Johnston Jottings

With the recent passing of Frank W. Buckles, the last doughboy, I am reminded there is a monument to the soldiers who fought in WWI, The Great War.
Actually there are two monuments on the courthouse lawn in memory of those who fought in that war. On the west side, north of the sidewalk, is a second WW I statue made of concrete with stones imbedded.
This holds the bronze plaques with the names of those persons killed in the ‘Great War.’ The story of the World War I “doughboy” has an interesting history.
Myth: The monument now known as the “doughboy statue” was not wanted by Wyandotte County so it was moved to the Leavenworth Court House site where it now stands.
Truth: The movement to have an American war soldiers’ memorial in Leavenworth County was started in the year 1924. Several plans were considered and it finally was decided to have a soldiers’ monument.
The money to pay for it was procured from a special Leavenworth County tax levy of .6 of a mill in the fiscal year 1924. County tax receipts for that year show it was printed at the bottom of the county levies under the designation of “Soldiers’ Memorial.”
There was a long controversy over the location for the monument. Four locations were considered.
One was on the Fort Leavenworth reservation just inside the garrison entrance at Grant and Metropolitan Avenues. The second was in the Leavenworth County courthouse yard. Leavenworth City Hall was the third choice.
Following the recommendation of the local Byron H. Mehl Post number 23 of the American Legion, the fourth location known as Victory Junction, the triangle on the Leavenworth and Wyandotte County lines, was chosen.
The Victory Monument was dedicated the afternoon of Armistice Day, November 11, 1929 at Victory Junction. Many city, county, and state officials were present in the large crowd.
William D. Reilly presided at the dedication and unveilling. Principal addresses were by Lee Bond and General Wilder S. Metcalf, Lawrence.
When the highway was improved, the statue moved to the south side of the Leavenworth County Courthouse.
The Leavenworth Times reported on Aug.  24 1941 that the monument would be moved from the location on the county lines of Wyandotte and Leavenworth. County. Commissioners Lon Rush, Ed S. Brewster, and Sam Warden decided to place the monument in the center of the concrete sidewalk, on the south side of the building.
The statue rests on a base similar to the one in the Victory Junction triangle.
The resolution considered and adopted tentatively by the board of county commissioners for placing the Victory Monument in the courthouse yard follows:
Whereas, the board of county commissioners of Leavenworth County by a tax levy raised a memorial fund to commemorate the services of those citizens of Leavenworth County who paid the supreme sacrifice in the great World war of 1917-18; and
“Whereas, this memorial fund was used to purchase a suitable monument; and
“Whereas, with the consent of the board of county commissions of Wyandotte County said monument was erected on the Wyandotte County line at a point near U.S. highway 40 known as Victory Junction; and
“Whereas, it is proposed by the Kansas State Highway Commission to extend U. S. highway 73 south from Victory Junction one mile to the new U. S. highway 40; and
“Whereas, it has been suggested by Byron H. Mehl Post No.23 of the American Legion that the memorial be relocated upon the Leavenworth County courthouse premises, and this recommendation has been accepted and approved by the board of county commissioners of Leavenworth County; and
“Whereas the Kansas Highway Commission has agreed to pay all expenses in connection with the relocation of said memorial;
“Be it therefore resolved by the board of county commissioners of Leavenworth County that the World war memorial now located at Victory Junction be relocated and placed at or near the front or south steps of the Leavenworth County courthouse, and that the Kansas State Highway Commission be immediately notified of this action”.
The statue and plates are of the highest American standard bronze. It represents a WW I infantry soldier with rifle in hand on the run in a charge. There may be pieces missing – the original statue may have held a hand grenade, with barbed wire surrounding the base.
It should be noted that nowhere in these news accounts is the statue called “Doughboy.’ That reference came later.
The term “Doughboy”, according to John Reichley is: According to Dictionary of the First World War by Stephen Pope and Elizabeth-Anne Wheal, "Doughboy was a contemporary popular nickname for conscript infantrymen of the American Expeditionary Forces. The origin of the name has been subject of debate.
Some authorities trace it to the dough-like buttons of U.S. infantry in the Civil War, but it was more probably a slang derivative of the word 'dobies,' short for 'adobies', a derisory description of dust-caked infantry applied by U.S. cavalrymen stationed along the Rio Grande" (during the Punitive Mission into Mexico in 1916.
Another possible explanation is that the soldiers used a type of dough to clean their buttons. The Pipe Clay Theory: During the 19th Century American enlisted men used a fine whitish clay called pipe clay to give "polish" to their uniforms and belts.  It was a less than perfect appearance enhancer, however; in rainy weather the saturated clay came to look "doughie." Infantrymen would be more vulnerable to this effect as their comrades kicked up mud and dirty water from the many puddles they would march through.

The author, Annie Walker Johnston (LHS Class of 1954) is a Leavenworth resident and wife of the late J.H. Johnston III, former Leavenworth Times publisher.
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