Photo: Gene McGinnis, Chattooga County Historical Society.

SUMMERVILLE, GEORGIA

34.477167, -85.347231

Copyright version 1920, sheet bronze.

Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Number: 47260016.

Formerly at VFW-American Legion Chattooga County Memorial Home at 818 Memorial Drive. Moved from Trion in November, 1988; moved again in May, 2021, to current location in Dowdy Park, near intersection of University Street and Rome Boulevard.

The engraving on the front of the monument reads:

IN MEMORIAM
WORLD WAR VETERANS
OF CHATTOOGA COUNTY
GEORGIA
1917 ---- 1918

ERECTED 1934
BY CITIZENS AND FRIENDS
OF CHATTOOGA COUNTY
FOSTERED BY
THE TRION COMPANY

(followed by names of three officers of Trion Company,
a textile miller and manufacturer.)

Four metal plaques list the names of 475 veterans on the two sides of the base.

The Doughboy was originally dedicated April 21, 1934, at the West end of Plaza Park in front of the Trion Company cotton mill. Senator Richard B. Russell performed the unveiling in front of a crowd estimated at about 5,000. In 1961, the statue was moved about 50 feet to the center of a concrete circle. A 1988 mill expansion made relocation necessary again but the Town of Trion officials declined an offer to have it moved to a location in front of the new Town Hall, evidently because the they didn’t want to pay the moving costs. It was rededicated at its current location in November 1989. It has been cleaned or treated several times, but is again in need of treatment. The bayonet and rifle sling are missing, and there is corrosion at the left cuff that will likely cause the left hand, and rifle to be dislodged at some point.

Update May 3, 2021: A special meeting was called at Summerville City Hall to approve relocating the Doughboy statue from the Chattooga County Memorial Home to the Veteran’s Memorial Park, located in Dowdy Park.

Update May 29, 2021: The statue was moved to, and rededicated in Dowdy Park on May 29, 2021, at 2:00 pm.

Photo: Glenn Miller, Tour of Honor, Flag 654.

Links:
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