Fort Benning Historic Trail Site

Fort Benning Historic Trail

Historical Site 47. Doughboy Statue

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The Doughboy Statue is a life-size, bronze statue of an American Infantryman in WWII field uniform and rifle. It is an exact replica of a pre-existing, German-made statue modeled after an actual WWII US Army Infantryman. MG Herbert B. Powell, Commander of Fort Benning at the time, originated the idea in January 1957 and commissioned a German firm to cast the statue. Upon its completion and shipment to Fort Benning, it was mounted on a narrow concrete base at the front entry walkway of the Infantry Center, Building 35. The base was sized to fit perfectly between six block-shaped stones they planned to have brought from the Remagen Bridge on the Rhine River. This bridge was captured in battle by US Forces in the final weeks of WWII.

The Doughboy Statue was ceremoniously unveiled on Apr 1, 1958. The Remagen Bridge basalt blocks arrived later and were placed around the pedestal. For the next 43 years the statue silently welcomed thousands of passing Soldiers to Building 35, but then was moved in 2001 to the front edge of Infantry Hall (Building 4), where it stood near the entry door, dwarfed by the larger Infantryman statue.

In 2009, Soldier’s Park on Edwards Street near Eubanks Field was being built at the request of Commanding General Walter Wojdakowski. During the design of that park, DPW Director Craig Taylor had the idea to place the Doughboy Statue as a centerpiece for that park. After a brief stay on the west side of Building 4 in the latter half of 2009 (to avoid the massive Building 4 renovation), the Doughboy Statue finally assumed its position of prominence in Soldier Park, where it maintains sentinel watch from atop its Remagen stonework.