You might have arrived here through the link I left at http://harlandaily.com/bookmark/4515249 regarding E. M. Viquesney’s famous WWI Doughboy memorial statue. The list of locations and other information found there is largely incorrect, being based on an old 1991 report published by T. Perry Wesley. The most up-to-date information on Viquesney and his creations can be found at http://doughboysearcher.weebly.com/currently-known-locations.html.

Many of the locations on Mr. Wesley’s list are misidentifications of another similar statue, “Over the Top”, by John Paulding (1883 – 1935). Adding to the confusion is the fact that Viquesney himself produced a piece bearing the same title.

There was no cast bronze version of “The Spirit of the American Doughboy” costing $9,000 – $11,000; that was just Mr. Wesley’s comparison between Viquesney’s original $1,000 statue and what a regular cast bronze statue would have cost at the time. While Viquesney’s ads and brochures touted his Doughboy as being available in “enduring bronze”, it was first produced made out of stamped copper sheets welded together over a frame, then in 1934 and later, out of cheap cast zinc.

There were also two stone versions, available with and without full battle gear; they have only one large tree stump on the back of the base.  These stone verions were advertised as being made of “beautiful, pure Italian marble”, but chemical analysis of one of them revealed it to be local Alabama or Georgia “marble” (partly metamorphosed limestone). It’s suspected that the others are, also.

It was largely through misrepresentative sales tactics like this that Viquesney succeeded in vastly underselling his competitors to become the most famous of WWI Doughboy sculptors. On the other hand, many small cities and towns that could not otherwise have afforded a memorial to their sons and daughters lost in the Great War were able to secure one at Viquesney’s rock-bottom prices.