County of statue: POlk County
Location of statue: On Polk County Courthouse Square at corner of MO Hwy 32 (East Broadway) and South Main Street
Artist: E. M. Viquesney
"The Doughboy, believed to have been funded by the Polk County Court Commission, was dedicated November 11, 1925 in a ceremony in which the Howard Keeling American Legion Post and Boy Scouts played major roles. The parade included veterans and students, a large German Krupp howitzer bearing scars from being hit by Allied guns, and two mounted German machine guns. (The howitzer was at the Doughboy site for many years.) The Doughboy was unveiled by Ruth Keeling, sister of Howard Keeling, a Polk County man who sacrificed his life, for whom the Bolivar American Legion Post was named.
"This is one of just four Viquesney Doughboys known to have copyright marks reading “Copyright Walter Rylander 1920.” Walter Rylander of Americus, Georgia, was one of the veterans who posed for E. M. Viquesney in wartime gear. Viquesney encountered financial difficulties and transferred all the rights to him in early 1922 and regained them in early 1926. Rylander has sometimes been credited as being “the” Doughboy model, which is only partially correct. According to Viquesney, there were multiple models. Other known Rylander copyright marks are on Doughboys at Sedalia, Missouri, St. Bernard, Ohio, and Muskogee, Oklahoma." ~ THE E. M. VIQUESNEY DOUGHBOY DATABASE