Bolling Memorial, (sculpture).

Bolling Memorial, (sculpture).

Potter, Edward Clark, 1857-1923, sculptor.

Gorham Manufacturing Company, founder.

Bolling Memorial, (sculpture).

Colonel Raynal C. Bolling Statue, (sculpture).

Dedicated Jan. 7, 1922. Rededicated May 17, 1997.

Figure: bronze; Stele: limestone; Base: limestone and concrete.

Figure: approx. 7.5 ft. x 28.75 in. x 18.5 in.; Stele: approx. 10 ft. x 86.75 in. x 22.5 in.; Base: approx. 30 1/2 x 43.75 x 25 in. (500 lbs.).

(On left side of bronze plinth:) E.C. POTTER Sc. (On right side of bronze plinth:) Gorham Co. Founders (On front of base, incised:) BOLLING (On back of stele:) RAYNAL C. BOLLING/BORN SEPTEMBER 1 1877/FORESAW HIS NATIONS CALL TO ARMS/AND LEFT A BRILLIANT CAREER/TO PREPARE HIMSELF FOR SERVICE/IN THE WORLD WAR/COLONEL OF AVIATION/AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES/HE LAID THE FOUNDATION/FOR OVR AERIAL WARFARE IN FRANCE/HE FELL IN ACTION NEAR AMIENS/MARCH 26 1918/IN THE VANGVARD/OF THE THOVSANDS OF AMERICANS/WHO GAVE ALL FOR THEIR COVNTRY. (Below the text is an emblem, a winged shield emblazoned with U.S. beneath a row of five stars) signed Founder's mark appears.

Standing figure of pilot Colonel Raynal C. Bolling, looking up, scanning the sky. Behind him is a stele bearing a relief of two planes flying among the clouds. Bolling is dressed in a World War I army uniform. He holds a staff and gloves in his proper right hand, and a folded cap in his proper left hand.

Portrait male -- Bolling, Raynal C. -- Full length

History -- United States -- World War I

Occupation -- Military -- Colonel

Dress -- Uniform -- Military Uniform

Dress -- Accessory -- Cane

Architecture -- Vehicle -- Airplane

Outdoor Sculpture -- Connecticut -- Greenwich

Administered by Town of Greenwich, Department of Public Works, Building Construction and Maintenance Division, 101 Field Point Road, Town Hall, Greenwich, Connecticut 06830

Located Greenwich Board of Education, 290 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, Connecticut

Colonel Raynal C. Bolling (1877-1918) was the first high-ranking American officer to be killed in World War I. A few months after his death, Bolling Field (now Bolling Air Force Base) near Washington, D.C. was named in his honor. In Greenwich, he had been an advocate for good roads and a pure milk supply, and was active in the training of the Boy Scouts. During World War I, a flying school was established in France under his direction. He is credited as a founding father of the modern U.S. Air Force. Funding for the monument came from 280 Greenwich residents who contributed to the Bolling Memorial Fund. The sculpture is installed in front of the Greenwich Board of Education building, which was formerly the Havemeyer School. IAS files contain related clipping from The Greenwich Press, Jan. 12, 1922, pg. 1, 4. See also Greenwich Time, March 18, 1997, pg. A2-A4 and May 17, 1997, pg. A1-A4.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Connecticut survey, 1993.

National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, CT5004, 1989.

Monumental News, March 1922, pg. 164.

SOS Achievement Award, 1997.

The Greenwich Press, Jan. 12, 1922, pg. 1.

Monumental News, March 1922, pg. 164.

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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