This monument is named American Legion Post 21. I don't know a lot about it except that it honors those who made the Supreme Sacrifice during WWI. There is also a monument for Meridian's fallen policemen. It is a bison tube with log only bring your own pencil. There are a lot of meter maids in this area, so be careful!! The Doughboy Monument was dedicated to the T.D. Carter American Legion Post here on Nov. 11, 1927. Sculptor Ernest Moore Viquesney created the statue, officially titled “Spirit of the American Doughboy,” to honor those who served in World War I. The original was produced in 1921. Today, more than 130 ‘Doughboys’ are known to be standing on courthouse lawns, town squares, parks, cemeteries and other locations throughout the United States. Copies of the sculpture were produced for communities during the 1920s and 1930s. Originally, nearly 160 monuments were located in U.S. towns and cities according to the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Additional information about the Monument:
MERIDIAN’S DOUGHBOY On an island bounded by 6th and 7th Streets and 23rd Avenue in downtown Meridian, Mississippi, stands an impressive monument. Dedicated on November 11, 1927, (Armistice Day), the "Doughboy" statue depicts an American soldier during World War I as he walks through no-man's land, complete with barbed wire and tree stumps, holding a rifle in his left hand and a grenade in his upraised right hand. The statue was placed in memory of "those of Lauderdale County who patriotically answered the call of their country to uphold justice and the rights of humanity" during the Great War. Supporting the statue is a triangular base of stone and includes an interior "shrine" protected by an iron gate. The Doughboy monument was dedicated by the T. C. Carter American Legion Post #21. The monument base was apparently built first (perhaps as early as 1918) with the statue added in 1927. The namesake of the American Legion post was Thomas Clay Carter, a native of Meridian. During World War I, he was acting company commander of the 320th Machine Gun Battalion, and was killed in action in October, 1918, in the Argonne Forest while checking for enemy gun emplacements. First buried in France, his remains were later reburied at Arlington National Cemetery. Although the doughboy statue isn’t dedicated specifically to the memory of Carter, he certainly is a worthy representative of those who gave their lives “Over There” during the First World War. The Meridian doughboy statue is the only one of its kind in Mississippi. The "Spirit of the American Doughboy" statue, however, is hardly unique. The statue is actually one of a series of sculptures designed and mass produced in the 1920s and 1930s by Ernest Moore (E.M.) “Dick” Viquesney. Born in 1876, Viquesney (pronounced "vi-kay-nee") lived in Spencer, Indiana, for much of his life. During the Spanish American War, however, he served in the military and was stationed in Pensacola. In 1904, he married Cora Barnes, and from 1905 to 1922, they resided in Americus, Georgia. There, he was employed at Clark's Monumental Works and Schneider's Marble Company, where he worked on various projects, including the National Cemetery at Andersonville and possibly the carvings at Stone Mountain (his father and grandfather were both stonemasons). While in Americus, in 1918, Viquesney first conceived of the idea of a monument to America's World War I veterans, and the "Spirit of the American Doughboy" was born. Although Dick Viquesney was involved in a variety of business pursuits back in Spencer, the "Spirit of the American Doughboy" was his signature achievement. Made at first from pressed copper, Viquesney later offered the statue in other materials, including stone. From 1921 until 1943, hundreds of "Doughboy" statues, including thousands of miniature versions, were purchased across the United States. The statues were not only popular because of the immediacy of the Great War in the 1920s, but they were very affordable and fairly light (the bronze models were hollow). In addition to the statue in Meridian, original Viquesney statues can be found regionally in Bessemer and Birmingham, Alabama, and Helena, Arkansas.* In all, the "Spirit of the American Doughboy" was installed in 39 states, from Maine to Wyoming. The majority of doughboys were purchased in the 1920s; both the Depression and the next World War cooled America's interest in "The War to End All Wars," though, and sales declined by the mid-1930s. Viquesney attempted to create equally successful statues of other subjects, including a World War II statue, but to no avail. He was able to market a line of doughboy-themed products, however. For example, he sold miniature versions of the doughboy in the form of lamps, candle holders and desktop ornaments. There were also similar statues created and sold by competitors, and at times the legal and advertising struggle to sell the "genuine" product seemed as fierce as the fighting on the Western Front. Today, many copies are attributed wrongly to Viquesney and many of his works are wrongly credited to other sculptors. On October 2, 1933, Cora Viquesney died of diphtheria. Three years later, he remarried and for the next decade lived a happy life. However, when his second wife Betty died in August 1946 at age 52, Dick, heartbroken, committed suicide on October 4, 1946. He left behind a note, directions for his funeral, and a rather lengthy, self-promoting obituary. He is buried in Spencer, Indiana, alongside his mother and father, and both wives. Overlooking them all is another Viquesney statue called "The Unveiling," originally done as a memorial to Cora in 1934. Ernest Moore Viquesney had no children and has no descendants...unless you count the dozens of doughboys which still stand in silent tribute to a generation of forgotten heroes across the land. * Apparently, the Birmingham statue was removed by the city in 2020 after protestors vandalized the monument and covered the statue in graffiti. — adapted from my now-defunct blog, “And Speaking of Which”