Reading WWI War Memorial, (sculpture).

Reading WWI War Memorial, (sculpture).

Unknown, sculptor.

Roth, Mike, contractor.

Reading WWI War Memorial, (sculpture).

Reading Doughboy, (sculpture).

Dedicated June 8, 1919. Rededicated May 31, 1992.

Sculpture: bronze; Base: concrete or marble.

Sculpture: approx. 8 x 2 x 4 ft.; Base: approx. 20 ft. x 78 1/2 in. x 54 1/2 in.

(On granite panels on base:) (North panel:) THE CITY OF READING/IN HONOR OF HER BRAVE SONS/WHO ANSWERED THE CALL OF THEIR COUNTRY/IN THE GREAT WAR FOR/1917 LIBERTY 1918/(Fifty-eight names) (At top of three other granite panels on each side of base:) HONOR CONTINUES/(On ribbon garland emblems:) HONOR ROLL/(list of approximately fifty-eight names each) (On granite marker on north side of sculpture:) DEDICATED BY THE PEOPLE OF READING/TO OUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS/WHO SERVED IN THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA/(lengthy inscription follows)/DEDICATED MEMORIAL DAY 1992/BY MAYOR FRANK CARNEVALE

A uniformed World War I soldier stands at attention, holding the butt of his rifle with bayonet with the cupped fingers of his proper right hand near his waist, the barrel of which rests at his shoulder. He is wearing a broad-brimmed hat, leggings, high boots, and a thigh-length belted jacket. Cartridge pockets are attached to the belt and an empty bayonet case hangs from the proper left rear of the belt. The sculpture is mounted atop a stepped rectangular base with a tapered top. An inscribed granite panel is on each side of the four sides of the base, with insignias, including: West: a cannon; East: an anchor; South: a rifle. The memorial is situated within a small, circular, concrete, landscaped park, paved with inscribed memorial bricks and surrounded by six free-standing granite markers arranged in a semicircle behind and beside it. The first marker carries a United States flag, and bears an inscription and carving of an American eagle. The other five are dedicated to each service branch, including the Marines, Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard. Each bears a stanza from the military branch's fight song, an illustration of a war scene, and holds the flag of the respective branch. The park area is enclosed by posts connected by pipe and chain link, with globe-shaped lights atop some of the posts. Flowers and shrubs are interplanted within sections of the chain link.

History -- United States -- Military history

History -- United States -- World War I

Figure male -- Full length

Occupation -- Military -- Soldier

Dress -- Uniform -- Military Uniform

Animal -- Bird -- Eagle

Object -- Other -- Flag

Performing Arts -- Music -- Song

Emblem -- Military Insignia

Outdoor Sculpture -- Ohio -- Reading

Administered by City of Reading, Pike & Market Streets, City Building, Reading, Ohio 45215

Located Southwest corner of Vine & Jefferson Streets, Reading, Ohio

The memorial commemorates soldiers from World War I and was erected by contractor Mike Roth, who at the time was serving as the Mayor of Reading. It contains the names of 216 Reading youth who served during World War I, including ten who died. In the early 1990s, during an expansion project, six memorial markers for the service branches were added around the memorial to help honor all veterans. About $80,000 was raised through donations from local residents, organizations and businesses, and by the sale of inscribed bricks, to pay for the new memorial markers, as well as to rebronze and make other improvements to the memorial. Eleftherios Karkadoulias, of the firm Karkadoulias Bronze Art, was hired by the Reading City Council in 1990 to restore the bronze sculpture on the top of the memorial. On Memorial Day, 1992, the memorial, including four of the five new service branch markers, was rededicated. The following year, on Memorial Day, 1993, the fifth service marker was dedicated to the Coast Guard. SOS! survey states media of base as concrete; article from The Cincinnati Post, Aug. 14, 1990, Neighbors sect., pg. 6, states media of base as marble.

IAS files contain a full transcription of the marker on the north side of the memorial. IAS files contain related articles from: The Cincinnati Post, Aug. 14, 1990, Neighbors sect., pg. 6; The Cincinnati Enquirer, May 30, 1993, Extra; and a captioned photo of the restoration process from The Cincinnati Post, Sept. 18, 1990. IAS files also contain an unidentified 1919 article from the Cincinnati Historical Society Library's "Reading Scrapbook."

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Ohio, Cincinnati survey, 1993.

The Cincinnati Post, Aug. 14, 1990, Neighbors sect., pg. 6.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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