Photo: Don Jackson, Miami, Oklahoma, provided by Peggy Jackson.
VERNAL, UTAH
N 40° 27.354 / W 109° 31.557
Copyright version 1920, sheet bronze.
Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Number: 47260116.
Copyright version 1920, sheet bronze.
Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Number: 47260116.
In memorial area at Uintah County Courthouse at 100 East Main Street.
The octagonal base includes six plaques, five of which list the names of 318 veterans of Uintah County who fought in the World War. The front panel lists the names of 13 who died in the war, and reads:
THIS TABLET
IS DEDICATED
TO THOSE WHO
MADE THE
SUPREME
SACRIFICE FOR
THEIR COUNTRY
IN THE
WORLD WAR
(followed by list of 13 names)
THIS MONUMENT
WAS ERECTED BY
POPULAR SUBSCRIPTION
OF THE
CITIZENS
AND
SCHOOL CHILDREN
OF
UINTAH COUNTY
NOVEMBER 11 1924
IS DEDICATED
TO THOSE WHO
MADE THE
SUPREME
SACRIFICE FOR
THEIR COUNTRY
IN THE
WORLD WAR
(followed by list of 13 names)
THIS MONUMENT
WAS ERECTED BY
POPULAR SUBSCRIPTION
OF THE
CITIZENS
AND
SCHOOL CHILDREN
OF
UINTAH COUNTY
NOVEMBER 11 1924
Four of the five gray stone panels behind the Doughboy are memorials to those who served in (from the right) World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm. The central one (hidden behind the Doughboy in the photo above) simply reads:
Securing the Blessings of Liberty
Two more panels (now both made of brick) to the left and right rear of the five stone panels enclose changeable displays behind glass. In July of 2010, the left one was a tribute to the POWs of WWII, and the right one remembered all Gold Star Mothers.
The Doughboy’s original dedication in Vernal was in the center of Main Street near the entrance to the Uintah Bank Building. Like the Doughboy at Beaver, Utah, the statue is coated with a protective layer of gray paint and seems to be in good condition. At some time the rifle was replaced with an "updated, more modern model", but is missing its bayonet and rifle sling.
During the Christmas season of 1934, a large Christmas tree was placed on the spot where the doughboy stood, and for years, many old-time residents could still recall what a treat it was to receive candy from the merchants. In 1976 the Doughboy was moved to the front of the library, and in 1992, to the front of the County Courthouse.
Longtime Vernal resident Alice White, speaking at an oral history gathering at the Uintah County Library, March 5, 2007, told the audience: “I was pretty much responsible for saving the Doughboy. Back many years ago, the statue was moved and moved and finally forgotten. It was vandalized to the point that his rifle and arm were torn off. After three years of sitting broken in Milton Hatch’s garage, Milt asked me if I wanted to salvage the thing. I got the welding class at the Vernal Junior High School to fix it and we donated it back to the county.”
The whole setting is now named the Veterans War Memorial, and VFW Post 5560 is apparently involved in its maintenance, as their name now appears in permanent letters on the top of the far right rear panel.
