Spirit of the American Doughboy

The Spirit of the American Doughboy is a pressed copper sculpture by E. M. Viquesney, designed to honor the veterans and casualties of World War I.

Mass-produced during the 1920s and 1930s for communities throughout the United States, the statue's design was the most popular of its kind, spawning a wave of collectible miniatures and related memorabilia as well as numerous copies by other artists.

[3] Installed in cemeteries, town squares, and parks, outside museums, on courthouse lawns, and countless other places, the design is said to be the most-viewed example of outdoor statuary in the U.S. (after the Statue of Liberty) although many people do not even realize they have seen it.

Colson and his son also worked on the restoration of the Doughboy in Clearwater, Florida, along with its companion statue, Spirit of the American Navy.

[5] With the passage of time and changes in fashion, many of these items were lost, broken, or discarded, making those few remaining in good condition sought after by modern collectors.

[6] The only stone version of the Spirit of the American Navy is found in Crowell, Texas according to a November 2, 2011 article by Daniel Walker in The Vernon Daily Record.

[9] Other variants were designed by Viquesney to depict different doughboy poses, but very few got past the drawing stage and none were ever realized at full scale.

The largest variant actually known to be by Viquesney is a unique three-foot memorial in Lakemore, Ohio, also listed as The Spirit of the Doughboy by the Smithsonian.