“The GREAT WAR” WWI ~ Finally, “the Dough Boys’ Tragedy” Gets a “Monumental” Depiction!
By“The Soldier’s Journey” by Sabin Howard
Sabin Howard’s WWI Memorial. SOURCE: https://www.nps.gov/wwim/learn/historyculture/journey.htm
Hermon A. MacNeil sculpted a simple WWI memorial entitled “The Soldier’s Journey” to honor of the solders of Flushing, Queens, NY, who died in 1914-1918.
Now, (above) a massive new WWI Monument in Washington, D.C. by Sabin Howard depicts dozens of Dough Boys in battle scenes in a classic style. The work is set in Pershing Park in the Federal Triangle.
The word ‘Great’ was not used to imply impressive, distinguished, or noble. Rather it referred to its geographic size — i.e., immense, vast, global in nature. World War I was Great because it was waged across vast territory of land and sea. Two decades later, ‘The Great War’ became known as ‘World War I’ or the ‘First World War’.
Inscription on MacNeil’s WWI Sculpture in Flushing, NY
The World War Monument in Flushing is a peaceful place that invites people to stop and rest.
Events in Context:
From 1939-1945 the reign of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi’ war machine, unleashed a more horrific conflagration engulfing Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and Great Britain. This became known as ‘World War II’ or the ‘Second World War’.
The Japanese invaded Manchuria, China in 1931 and established a puppet state that they occupied until 1945. The United States entered the conflict in 1941 after aerial bombardments at Pearl Harbor. Thus the Second World War was expanding of beyond China into the South Pacific, and Japanese territories.
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World War I Memorial – Flushing, New York by H. A. MacNeil
Next Post Offers More from the:
Smithsonian, Vol. 53, No 02; pp. 26-41
