The E. M. Viquesney "Spirit of the American Doughboy" Database
Photo: Les Kopel, Oxnard, California.
SEDALIA, MISSOURI
N 38° 42.442 / W 093° 13.683
Copyright version 1920, pressed copper.
Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Number: 47260060.
Copyright version 1920, pressed copper.
Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Number: 47260060.
At 415 South Ohio Ave. in West center of Pettis County Courthouse Square.
The engraving on the front of the base reads:
IN MEMORY OF OUR
1917 1918
GLORIOUS DEAD
(followed by list of names)
ERECTED BY PETTIS CO. POST
NO. 16 AMERICAN LEGION
IN MEMORY OF OUR
1917 1918
GLORIOUS DEAD
(followed by list of names)
ERECTED BY PETTIS CO. POST
NO. 16 AMERICAN LEGION
Names of 50 World War I dead are on the front, and names of about 360 World War II, Korea and Vietnam dead are engraved on the other three sides.
The Doughboy’s November 12, 1926 dedication had been delayed by one day so some participants could attend the dedication of Kansas City’s Liberty Memorial (largest World War I monument in U. S.) with President Calvin Coolidge the previous day.
This is one of just four Viquesney Doughboys known to have copyright marks reading “Copyright Walter Rylander 1920”. Walter Rylander of Americus, Georgia, was one of the veterans who posed for E. M. Viquesney in wartime gear. Viquesney encountered some financial difficulties and transferred all the rights to him in early 1922 and regained them in early 1926. Rylander has sometimes been credited as being “the” Doughboy model, which is only partially correct. According to Viquesney, there were multiple models. Other known Rylander copyright marks are on Doughboys at Bolivar, Missouri, St. Bernard, Ohio and Muskogee, Oklahoma. All the others were dedicated in 1925. Sedalia’s had a Rylander copyright even though Viquesney had reacquired the rights by the time it was dedicated.
The Doughboy’s November 12, 1926 dedication had been delayed by one day so some participants could attend the dedication of Kansas City’s Liberty Memorial (largest World War I monument in U. S.) with President Calvin Coolidge the previous day.
This is one of just four Viquesney Doughboys known to have copyright marks reading “Copyright Walter Rylander 1920”. Walter Rylander of Americus, Georgia, was one of the veterans who posed for E. M. Viquesney in wartime gear. Viquesney encountered some financial difficulties and transferred all the rights to him in early 1922 and regained them in early 1926. Rylander has sometimes been credited as being “the” Doughboy model, which is only partially correct. According to Viquesney, there were multiple models. Other known Rylander copyright marks are on Doughboys at Bolivar, Missouri, St. Bernard, Ohio and Muskogee, Oklahoma. All the others were dedicated in 1925. Sedalia’s had a Rylander copyright even though Viquesney had reacquired the rights by the time it was dedicated.
