“Doughboy” statue has stood tall in Marlborough for nearly a century

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“Doughboy” statue has stood tall in Marlborough for nearly a century
Often called “The Doughboy,” this bronze sculpture depicting the emotional task of burying a fallen comrade on a World War I battlefield stands in front of the Frank D. Walker Building at 255 Main Street in Marlborough.
(Photo/Susan Alatalo)

MARLBOROUGH – One of the tallest male figures seen around the city is the Abraham Lincoln re-enactor, Steve Symes, who wears a top hat when marching in Marlborough’s annual Labor Day parade.

Another well-known tall man has posed motionless since 1923 in front of the red-brick Frank D. Walker Building at 255 Main Street. 

Despite its mammoth size, the bronze statue of a foot soldier, over time, has been placed in several different sites on the lawn sloping up to what was built as Marlborough High School. 

Commonly known as “The Doughboy,” this sculpture was created by John Gabriel Hardy, Sr. of Rhode Island. It is entitled “Lest We Forget, World War I Memorial.” A young man bows over freshly dug soil upon a stone pedestal, his sleeves rolled up and holding a small cross. 

A half-circle of stone wall is recessed from the sidewalk into the grassy hill, thus forming a flagstone plaza where many parades pause to pay tribute to veterans. Around the base are bronze plaques inscribed with the names of 37 Marlborough soldiers who died in battle during the Great War, as it was once called. Many a visitor to the statue has found the name of a family member or neighbor that seems familiar.

Also etched is: “WORLD WAR/LEST WE FORGET/1914-1919…TO YOU FROM FAILING HANDS WE THROW THE TORCH. BE YOURS TO BEAR IT HIGH. MARLBOROUGH HONORS HER HERO DEAD/1923.”

A path behind the sculpture leads pedestrians to behold, at eye level, a spade, barbed wire and a second helmet by the soldier’s soil-covered boots. 

The muscular man depicted is probably younger than 25 years old, as more than half of the doughboys were. Even boys just 17 years old enlisted, to fight in the “Grand War,” a phrase nullified after World War II erupted and changed what was supposed to be “the war to end all wars.”

Before American infantrymen became “GIs” during World War II, the popular nickname was “doughboy.” There are several theories of how the name came to be. The term was used as early as the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. It may have been due to the chalky dust from the dry terrain that resembled unbaked flour and coated marching foot soldiers.

Hardy designed other military statues such as “On To Victory” in North Providence, R.I., and plaques honoring people like Union Army Major Thomas McManus in Hartford, Conn. He also designed “Congressional Medal of Honor” (Valor) at the State House in Boston. 

Realistic-looking military sculptures were mainly commissioned then to a number of artists. Today global communities still wish to pay tribute to those who sacrifice much in war through artwork, parades and ceremonies.

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