Patriotic Pink-Pink Saturday

When driving through town the other day with Connor I noticed the pink flowers planted in front of The Spirit of the American Dough Boy Monument. Since yesterday was the 4th of July, I decided to post this for my Pink Saturday post. The crepe myrtles and pink vinca are in full bloom and really set off the monument. Both of these require very little upkeep or extra watering and can stand the hot humid Mississippi days. Here is Connor posting in front of the monument, and a picture that he took of the soldier at the top. Every time we ride through town, he asks me to tell him the story of the monument and why it is there. The day I took the pictures, we finally got out of the car and walked up to the monument. He had asked me to stop before and it seemed we were always headed somewhere else. I think he was 'tickled pink' to finally get out and see it up close! I am trying to instill in him a love of his country....I want him to be proud of it always and to remember those soldiers who fought for our freedom. He is young and probably doesn't understand, but knowing him he'll keep asking questions!After researching it to answer his questions, I learned quite a bit myself including that the monument was created by sculptor Ernest Moore Viquesney and found in many communities in the USA. In fact, there is even a scavenger hunt for different versions of the statue! Information about the monument in Meridian, and the scavenger hunt with other links about the Dough boy monuments in America can be found here.
Do you have one in your community?

Thanks to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting Pink Saturday!

Happy Pink Saturday everyone!

Edited July 7, 2008

I received this email and wanted to make sure the accurate information was posted:
Diane:

Thanks for the link to my Doughboy site (http://members.tripod.com/doughboy_lamp/earlspages).

While there's not really a "scavenger hunt" for Viquesney's Doughboy, there are a few people looking for them for various reasons. In my case, it was due to a miniature lamp base in the form of the statue, bought by my grandmother in 1923, that sparked my interest. My colleague Earl Goldsmith, who did most of the research on locations and background information for our site, grew up in Henryetta, OK, where there is an identical statue. Spotting another miniature of the statue in a bank vault one day, and told there were "several" of the large versions around the country, he wondered how many of them there actually were.

This informal group of "Doughboy Searchers" was once headed by T. Perry Wesley, late editor of the Spencer (Indiana) Evening World. Mr. Wesley became curious about yet another identical statue that stands in front of the County Courthouse in Spencer, and spent 50 years searching for locations of Viquesney's Doughboy and information about the sculptor.

Since Meridian's Doughboy stands atop a tall stone tower, it's impossible to read the tiny nameplate on the base near the right foot. But if you could, you would learn that the full title of the statue is The Spirit of the American Doughboy. So far as known, Meridian is the only site in Mississippi that has one. Meridian's version is one of the older ones, made of pressed copper sheets welded together over an internal frame. This version was produced from 1921 until 1934, when it was replaced by a cast zinc version that continued being made until shortly after the start of WWII. Viquesney also copyrighted a stone version in 1922, but it was not as successful as the others; only three are known to exist.

Thanks again for linking to us.

Les Kopel
Webmaster
Earl Goldsmith's Spirit of the American Doughboy Database