In April 2014, I received an email from Tyrone Mayor Bill Fink who had received an email from Mark Levitch, President, WWI Memorial Inventory Project, Washington DC. Mr. Levitch is compiling a list of all WWI Memorials and required some information on the Tyrone Doughboy memorial. Bill Fink asked me if I would take on the project.
The first place I started to look for information was the Tyrone Area Historical Society records. I got a good start by reading the Tyrone PastTimes newsletter from the fall of 2007. I was also able to get a copy of an article from The Mutual Magazine (1921) about the people who conceived the idea of the statue and the people who made it happen.
What I knew from the information at hand was that the idea of the Doughboy statue was conceived by the Superintendent of the Tyrone Division of the PRR, Mr. J. K. Johnston, in October 1920. He presented his idea to his subordinates and they were tasked with making it a reality. The completed monument was dedicated in May 1921. The statue was made by the V. C. Vetty Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Mr. Charles C. Cassidy, a Tyrone WWI Veteran, posed for the statue.
The Trail Widens
Mr. Les Kopel, who searched the Viquesney “Spirit of the American Doughboy” database, stated that our statue had nothing to do with the Viquesney Company. It was a completely different pose. The Viquesney Company made hundreds of Doughboy statues that are located all over the United States. Their statues stand erect with an arm raised above the head.
The next day Mr. Kopel sent another email. He had decided to help me. He said that through his research he found three more statues in the same pose as Tyrone’s. The statues were located in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania; Enid, Oklahoma; and Greencastle, Missouri. What a turn of events!
I had very mixed feelings; I wanted the Tyrone statue to be unique, but on the other hand I wanted to find out if there was any connection between it and the other four statues.
Ruth Anne Evans, Reference Librarian in Enid, Oklahoma, told me that according to her research their statue was cast by the Wheelock Company of Pittsburgh, the artist was William Ahearn, and the sculptor was Stephen A. Rebeck.
Mary Anne, Heinz History Center, found that Charles Wheelock was, in 1921, the secretary of the V. C. Getty Company, Pittsburgh. Now, do I have a misspelling or a change in the last name? Vetty vs. Getty. The V. C. Getty Company, according to Polk’s Pittsburgh City Directory 1920, was at 1204 House Building, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they worked in iron and steel. In the 1921 directory, they were listed as working in bronze.
Another response came from Mr. Kopel stating there was a fifth statue in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Thomas Buchman, Coraopolis Pennsylvania Historical Society, was very enthusiastic about this project. Marline Todd, President, Sullivan County Historical Society in Missouri, located a privately owned statue in Greencastle Cemetery, on the grave of Mr. William E. Carter, born May 16, 1896, killed in the Argonne Offensive October 4, 1918.
Comparing the Statues
I sent pictures of the Tyrone Doughboy to each of the players and asked for them to send me pictures. A close-up of the face from Enid was the same face as the Tyrone Doughboy. After very close scrutiny we all agree with Mrs. Buchman, who trained in art design at the Carnegie Library of Fine Art, that the statue in Coraopolis and Tyrone were made from the same mold.
Our research now took another twist. Let’s look at some dates:
- Coraopolis, Pennsylvania — 1920
- Tyrone, Pennsylvania — 1921
- Greencastle, Missouri — 1922
- Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania — 1923
- Enid, Oklahoma — 1924
The Coraopolis statue was dedicated November 14, 1920, about one month after Mr. Johnston (Tyrone PRR) turned over the project to his subordinates to make it a reality. So at this point, I had to believe the documentation:
- Tyrone does not have a one-of-a-kind Doughboy statue.
- The faces on the statues are all alike and were all made by the same manufacturer.
- Based on information provided from Enid, Oklahoma, the sculptor for their Doughboy statue was Stephen A. Rebeck, and the artist was William Ahern.
- The Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, statue was in place six months before the Tyrone statue.
- The name of the company was V. C. Getty, not Vetty.
Conclusion
What we have in Tyrone and the other towns is a very important piece of history. It was important as a memorial to the soldiers who served and died in the “War to end all wars.” It was important to the men who conceived the idea and turned it into reality. Most of all, it is important to the people of Tyrone, past, present, and future generations, as we need to remember the great accomplishments and sacrifices of that generation. Our statue is not as unique as we thought it was, but in the long run, does that really matter?
P.S. Three more statues have been located in Millvale and Stowe in Pennsylvania, and in Stamford, Connecticut, making the total eight. The search continues.
Share your memories