100 Cities - 100 Memorials

This metal statue known as "The Spirit of the American Doughboy" was sculpted by E. M. Viquesney, it depicts a World War I Doughboy carrying a rifle and grenade through the barbed wire and stumps of No Man's Land. It stands on a stone base with an emblem of the American Legion and a plaque that reads "In memory of the men and women of Tuscarawas County who served their country in the World War. Erected 1929."

Inscription:

The residents of the Twenty First Ward as a lasting expression of their gratitude and affection have placed this tablet as a testimonial to the young men of this community, who in a spirit of unselfish patriotism answered their country’s call in the Great War and made the supreme sacrifice.

The memorial consists of a tall granite obelisk adorned at the base with a bronze sculpture depicting two WWI soldiers engaged in battle, one armed with a bayonet and the other with a cocked 45-caliber pistol. The soldiers stand on a rocky ledge and aim their weapons at the unseen enemy below them.

The bronze sculpture rests on a low granite base attached to the front of the granite obelisk. The base now contains incised lettering honoring those who gave their lives and served in each war from World War I forward, but originally only commemorated World War I.

The memorial, designed by sculptor, Gaetano Federici, was dedicated in 1930.

Narrative adapted from Smithsonian Institution Research Information Systems (SIRIS) inventory #77002948. 

Photos courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) 

The inscription on this memorial reads:

Dedicated in honor of those employees of Tyrone Division of the Pennsylvania Division who fought in the World War, those who fought and lived and those who fought and died, those who gave much and those who gave all.

This is a full-length male WWI soldier in full overseas gear, standing with his arms at his side and his rifle in ground arms posi­tion. It was sculpted by an unknown sculptor, sponsored by the American legion, and dedicated on May 30, 1921.

The U.S. Navy Memorial is a World War I memorial in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It was built for the American Battle Monuments Commission in 1933 and inaugurated in 1937. The memorial is a masonry archway which leads to a British Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery. Over the arch are two bronze seals of the United States and the Department of the Navy. This monument, constructed of the stone from the neighboring Rock of Gibraltar, commemorates the achievements of the U.S. Navy in the nearby waters and its comradeship with the British Royal Navy during World War I. Steps lead downward from the south side of the Naval Monument to the busy harbor; thus its nickname of the “American Steps.”  The inscription on the north side of the monument reads:

ERECTED BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO COMMEMORATE THE ACHIEVEMENTS AND COMRADESHIP OF THE AMERICAN AND BRITISH NAVIES IN THIS VICINITY DURING THE WORLD WAR

The U.S. Navy cooperated with the British Royal Navy and other navies in fighting the German submarine menace. Gibraltar was one of its major bases. The Navy’s Patrol Force operated here from August 1917 until after the Armistice of November 11, 1918. Its ships included cruisers, destroyers, Coast Guard cutters, and submarine chasers. The ships attacked German submarines and escorted convoys to and from ports in France and Great Britain. During July and August, 1918, the Patrol Force escorted 25 percent of all Mediterranean convoys to French ports, and 70 percent of all convoys to English ports from the vicinity of Gibraltar.

In November 1998, this monument was the site of an unveiling ceremony of a bronze plaque which commemorated the World War II Allied invasion of North Africa, Operation Torch. 

This E.M. Viquesney "Spirit of the American Doughboy" statue and accompanying memorial walls are located outside the Uinta County Courthouse. The memorial was installed in 1920 as a tribute to the Uinta County veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I.  A later plaque was added for World War II. 

This memorial sculpture, erected in 1926, is of a uniformed World War I soldier marching up a hill with his proper left foot forward. In his hands he holds his rifle on his proper right side. The sculpture is mounted on a tall rectangular base. Originally placed to honor World War I, it now also honors WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. 

The inscription reads:

UNION CITY HONORS/THE HEROIC DEAD/AND THOSE/WHO ANSWERED THE CALL/OF THEIR COUNTRY/IN THE WORLD WAR/APRIL 6, 1917 - NOV. 11, 1918/WORLD WAR II/DEC. 7, 1941 - SEPT. 2, 1945

On left side of base: KOREAN WAR/JUNE 27, 1950/JAN. 31, 1955

On right side of base: ERECTED 1926/VIETNAM WAR/AUG. 5, 1964/MAY 7, 1975

Park plaza containing a number of stone monuments to the wars and containing inscriptions: 

“Union County War Memorial – This memorial depicts wars as they have impacted this country, state and nation.  Freedom has never been free, it never will be. Part of the price of freedom will be realized as you visit this memorial.  These hallowed grounds are dedicated to the memory of those Union Countians who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country during a war time period.  We honor all those men and women who gave of themselves in a effort to ensure freedom and democracy throughout the world.  May God bless America. November 11, 1995.

Soldier

I was that which others did not want to be.
I went where others feared to go, and did what others feared to do.
I asked nothing from those who gave nothing, and reluctantly
Accepted the thought of eternal loneliness should I fail.
I have seen the face of terror, felt the sting of cold fear,
And enjoyed the sweet taste of a moment’s love.
I have cried, pained, and hoped….but most of all,
I have lived times others would say were best forgotten.
At least some day I will be able to say that I was proud of
What I was….a soldier.                         

George L. Skypeck.”

This memorial was erected in 1922 by the Local Exemption Board of Union County, TN.

To Our Heroes

War of 1917-1918

Lists by name WWI veterans from Union County.

For additional background on the Great War in Union County, see: https://www.historicunioncounty.com/article/great-war-union-county

THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED / AS A TOKEN OF ESTEEM TO THE / MEN AND WOMEN OF UNIONPORT / WHO SO NOBLY RESPONDED TO / THEIR COUNTRY'S CALL IN THE / WORLD WAR OF / 1914-1918. / TO MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR / DEMOCRACY AND WHO THROUGH / GOD'S MERCY WERE SAFELY / RETURNED TO US / IT IS ESPECIALLY DEDICATED TO THE / MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE / THEIR LIVES FOR THIS GREAT CAUSE. / WILLIAM A AGNEW / EDWARD BOERA / JOSEPH J. DALY / GEORGE P. ESSENWANGER / HARRY HOFFMEISTER / CHARLES C. JABURECK / WILLIAM LEMMON / CHARLES A. LINDBLOM / JOHN C. NEWMAN / WILLIAM S. REARDON / GEORGE J. SCHNEIDER / WALTER SOFFEL / THAT THEIR NAMES MAY LIVE / WITH THEIR VALOR. /

Small Memorial Plaques for each submarine lost are located on the back of the flat wall

WW1 Plaque Reads:

          SS-20

17 December 1917

  USS F-1 (CARP)

     19 Men List

The inscription on this Honor Roll reads:

In memory of those
who served their country,
state and town in
The World War

Bacon, Cecil V. • Bartlett, Chas. H. • Bean, Fred O. • *Berry, Samuel B. • Chase, Hugh D. • Chase, Wallace B. • Dean, Ambrose W. • Dennett, Carl G. • *Douglass, Walter S. • Edgerly, Charles S. • Edgerly, Everett A. • Edgerly, Glenn E. • Fairbanks, William L. • Fuller, Orville J. • Furbish, Leland S. • Gerry, Clarence M. • Goodwin, Carl W. • Grand, Mark L. • Grant, Phillip B. • Grant, William H. • Hamlin, Clayton R. • Hamlin, Raymond D. • Hatch, Preble Del K. • Hubbard, Melvin H. • Irish, Arthur • Johnson, Ralph H. • Johnson, Zene E. • Jones, Clifford B. • Libby, Alton W. • Mills, Maurice M. • *Mills, Wilfred • Morse, Guy S. • Mosher, Paul L. • Nickless, Percy E. • Rand, Lynn T. • Reynolds, Clarence M. • Stevens, Walter O. • Taylor, Charles W. • Wellington, Robert R. • Whitaker, Preston W. • Whitehouse, Fred H. • Whitehouse, Robert R.

In 1918, Delaware College president Samuel Chiles Mitchell proposed making the planned library a memorial to the Delawareans who died in World War I, stating "Used by both colleges, it would be the dynamo of the whole institution." Due to the unsatisfactory nature of the existing library facilities the new building became a high priority for both Mitchell and his successor, Walter Hullihen, who oversaw the merger of the men's and women's colleges to form the University of Delaware in 1921. Funding difficulties forced Hullihen to scale back the grand design of Day and Klauder to a more modest building capable of housing 100,000 volumes. In 1922, the university embarked on a fundraising campaign to raise the $300,000 needed for the building, which ended successfully with more than 26,000 members of the public pledging funds.

Despite the successful campaign, funding problems continued as some of the pledged money failed to materialize and inflation drove up the cost of the building. The library committee balked at beginning construction without funds set aside for an endowment, despite warnings from committee member W. O. Sypherd that "Failure to build this Library now will be a moral failure, the results of which would be disastrous to the future welfare of the University." The situation was eventually resolved by securing additional pledges from the existing donors and by modifying the library design to reduce the construction cost.

At the groundbreaking ceremony on December 11, 1923, around 300 male students, alumni, and faculty dug out the building's basement with the women's college students on hand to serve refreshments. The library cornerstone was laid on June 9, 1924, on the occasion of the university's first joint commencement for both men and women. The building was complete by the end of the year, and most of the university's library collections were moved in over Christmas break. The library opened for business at the beginning of the spring semester in January 1925 and was later formally dedicated at an elaborate ceremony on Memorial Day, May 23.

This central building holds the "Book of the Dead", a list of the war dead from Delaware during World War I. The book is turned to a new page every day, usually by an ROTC cadet.

This memorial was originally located in Railroad Park but was moved to Riverside Cemetery in 2016. The bronze sculpture designed by Louis R. Kirchner and cast at the Flour City Ornamental Ironworks in Minneapolis, MN was dedicated on November 11, 1927. An identical statue by Kirchner is located in Butler, PA and a very similar Kirchner statue is located in Clark, SD.