I’m imploring the Henry County Commissioners to stop the permanent relocation of the “Spirit of the American Doughboy” statue and have it placed back on the hill in Henry County Memorial Park where it was dedicated, before the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 2018…..the 100th anniversary of the ending of the world war and where the statue was dedicated 89 years ago, so that it can be rededicated as it was intended to be.
The doughboy was erected to honor and memorialize those lost in the war that was thought to end all wars. Those young men and boys, some of them, never came home. Their bodies lie in a foreign country….one they did not ask to die in.
Just a year earlier, these boys had been farmers, factory workers, clerks, carpenters, students, in civilian clothes. Six months prior to the battlefront they were In a training camp. Then they were soldiers in France, and they were the heroes of the war for civilization.
I’m telling you that the ground carefully built up to stand the statue on, by the hands of Henry County Citizens is every bit as important asthe statue that rested on it and the two were never meant to be separated. The War mothers plaque was set in that ground. It’s sacred…..it’s hallowed.
Who are we to even contemplate taking that spiritual place in the wooded “no-man’s land” where a Brigadier General spoke about the monument being there “forever” and the War Mothers cried over lost sons. It’s where a Henry County Civil War veteran and Captain (age 89 years) stood and unveiled the statue in front of all the military organizations in the county. It’s much bigger than we are.
Use the doughboy for the “soft opening” in July and then put it back where it belongs for the ages. I think those who purchased bricks and flag poles for the plaza would not argue with placing another statue there. It changes none of your plans except returning the doughboy to its rightful place.
We are in the fourth month of the year in which I planned to honor our WWI veterans in a respectful manner, as did many others all across the nation. This has been wasted fighting a battle that should never have begun. I haven’t used this word yet, but what we are doing in moving his statue is shameful.
Mark Sean Orr
New Castle, Indiana
April 1, 2018
mpcc@comcast.net
