Photo: Mark Roloson, Endicott, NY.
VESTAL, NEW YORK
N 42° 05.964 / W 075° 58.850
Copyright version 1920, sheet bronze copy by M. Laugle.
Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Number: NO ENTRY.
Copyright version 1920, sheet bronze copy by M. Laugle.
Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Number: NO ENTRY.
In Vestal Hills Memorial Park, 3997 Vestal Road, Vestal, New York, near Binghamton University.
The title
SPIRIT OF OUR HEROES
appears on the front of the base, and a plaque with the words
COPYRIGHTED
M. LAUGLE
SCULPTOR
appears on the back or the stone pedestal. There are no other inscriptions.
SPIRIT OF OUR HEROES
appears on the front of the base, and a plaque with the words
COPYRIGHTED
M. LAUGLE
SCULPTOR
appears on the back or the stone pedestal. There are no other inscriptions.
Found in March, 2005 by Geocacher "Team Ferret", this sculpture was first thought not to be Viquesney's "Spirit of the American Doughboy", but the head, torso and legs are identical to the 1920 version, as are the tops of the two shortened tree stumps on the base. According to Vestal Hills Cemetery officials, the statue was damaged in the past, and the arms were "restored" in their unusual, twisted positions (note the odd-looking proper right shoulder that looks like it once pointed the arm up). It isn't known if the original upraised right hand held ever held a grenade. It's possible the statue was "restored" this way in an attempt to make it look like one of several other Doughboy monuments that have similar poses, like the one at Cooperstown, NY, for example.
The statue's title, "Spirit of our Heroes", is the same as another piece in Blue Ash, Ohio's Rest Haven Cemetery that also appears to have been fabricated from Viquesney's original 1920 molds. That one still retains the same pose as "The Spirit of the American Doughboy", but it bears the maker's mark of George F. Yostel.
We know that Viquesney changed his Doughboy design slightly in 1934, abandoning sheet bronze for cast zinc, and at the same time changed foundries from Friedley-Voshardt Company to Raphael Groppi Studios in Chicago. We also know Friedley-Voshardt kept the 1920 molds because the Doughboy at Warren, Ohio was made from them in 1941, seven years after the switch, and it bears F-V's maker mark instead of Viquesney's. So although both these statues, Vestal and Blue Ash, bear the names of two different artists, they were both made from Viquesney's original 1920 molds, and thus are included on our website. It is unknown how either George F. Yostel or M. Laugle was able to copyright or use the design already owned by Viquesney.
The statue's title, "Spirit of our Heroes", is the same as another piece in Blue Ash, Ohio's Rest Haven Cemetery that also appears to have been fabricated from Viquesney's original 1920 molds. That one still retains the same pose as "The Spirit of the American Doughboy", but it bears the maker's mark of George F. Yostel.
We know that Viquesney changed his Doughboy design slightly in 1934, abandoning sheet bronze for cast zinc, and at the same time changed foundries from Friedley-Voshardt Company to Raphael Groppi Studios in Chicago. We also know Friedley-Voshardt kept the 1920 molds because the Doughboy at Warren, Ohio was made from them in 1941, seven years after the switch, and it bears F-V's maker mark instead of Viquesney's. So although both these statues, Vestal and Blue Ash, bear the names of two different artists, they were both made from Viquesney's original 1920 molds, and thus are included on our website. It is unknown how either George F. Yostel or M. Laugle was able to copyright or use the design already owned by Viquesney.
