As a continuing force for preservation and history in the community, Weber County Heritage Foundation is honored to present the fully restored WWI Doughboy Statue in the Ogden City Cemetery, and will host a celebration to commemorate its return.

 

The event will take place on Saturday, November 10th, 2018, which is the 100-year anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended fighting on the Western Front during WWI. In cooperation with Ogden City and the American Legion, and with help from RAMP funding, the Weber County Heritage Foundation has fully restored the statue, including cleaning and repairing the bronze, recreating and replacing the lost helmet and rifle bolt as well as repairing the joint, and applying a new bronze patina. Another component of the restoration included removing of the crumbling concrete dais and replacing it with a new granite monolith.

 

The celebration will begin with a rifle salute from a local Civil War re-enactment group. Weber State University history professor Branden Little will speak, followed by Dr. Ben Noid, who will read the famous WWI poem In Flanders Fields. The Ogden Concert Band will also perform and refreshments will be served.

 

The statue, sculpted by Gilbert P. Risvold was originally dedicated in the 1920s. It stood previously on the balcony of the old American Legion Post on 24th Street in Ogden and was moved to the Ogden City Cemetery shortly after World War II.

The term “doughboy” refers to the nickname for members of the U.S. Army or Marine Corps during World War I, especially members of the American Expeditionary Forces.

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The event is free to the public

and all are encouraged to attend.

 

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The Weber County Heritage Foundation would like to give a heartfelt thanks to the dozens of individual citizens who donated to the restoration of the statue, as well as the organizational donors listed below:

Weber County Heritage Foundation

National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

Golden Spike Chapter NDSAR

Baker-Merrill American Legion Post 9

Pritzker Military Museum Foundation and WWI Foundation

Ogden City Corporation

Ogden City Parks – In Memory of Perry Huffaker

Wadman Corporation

Mountain West Architecture

Weber County Ramp Grant

Nationwide Monument

Adonis Bronze

Utah Division of State History and Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs

Ogden Art Metal Inc.

Golden Hours Senior Center – Golden Vets

Boy Scouts of America, Troop 18