   #copyright

Iron Mike

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: North American History

   Iron Mike is the de facto name of various monuments commemorating
   servicemen of the United States military. The term "Iron Mike" is
   uniquely American slang used to refer to men who are especially tough,
   brave, and inspiring. Because the use of the slang term was popular in
   the first half of the 20th century, many statues from that period
   acquired the Iron Mike nickname, and over the generations the artists'
   titles were largely forgotten. Even official military publications and
   classroom texts tend to prefer the nickname to the original titles.

Quantico, Virginia

   Crusading for the Right
   Enlarge
   Crusading for the Right

   Quantico’s Iron Mike is officially titled Crusading for the Right. It
   depicts a World War I Marine holding a 1903 Springfield rifle, wearing
   a pack with a bayonet.

   At the end of the war, US Army General John J. Pershing commissioned a
   French sculptor to commemorate the service of the US Army’s "
   doughboys". The sculptor, unaware of the differences between the
   branches of service, used a Marine private as a model and included the
   Eagle, Globe and Anchor insignia on the helmet. When Pershing saw the
   finished product, he demanded that the Marine Corps insignia be
   removed. The artist would not allow his work to be censored, so the
   Army refused to buy the statue.

   Finally, Marine Corps General Smedley Butler raised enough money to buy
   the statue and had it installed in front of the headquarters building
   at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA. Sources differ on the exact date of
   the dedication. Some hold that it was installed as late as 1921, but
   photos of the statue at Quantico exist with alleged dates of late 1918.
   The earlier date is unlikely, as it would coincide with the end of the
   war and does not seem to give sufficient time for the original
   sculpting, the controversy that followed, and the acquisition of the
   statue by the Marine Corps.

   Today, the statue stands in front of the Commanding General's building
   of Training and Education Command.

Belleau, France

   Belleau Wood's Iron Mike
   Enlarge
   Belleau Wood's Iron Mike

   The Iron Mike at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial at
   Belleau Wood battlefield is a bronze relief on black marble, simply
   entitled The Marine Memorial. It was sculpted by Felix Weihs de Weldon,
   the artist who later designed the giant Marine Corps War Memorial in
   Washington, D.C. The monument was erected in the heart of the forest to
   honour the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments of the 4th Marine Brigade which
   fought there for twenty days in June of 1918. Below the statue is a
   commemorative plaque with a large Eagle, Globe, and Anchor.

   The battle was the bloodiest of the U.S. Marine Corps' history at that
   point, and the 5th and 6th Regiments were awarded the French Fourragère
   and Croix de Guerre. Following the war, the French government renamed
   the forest "Wood of the Marine Brigade," and this Iron Mike was
   dedicated there in 1923.

Parris Island, South Carolina

   Parris Island's Iron Mike
   Enlarge
   Parris Island's Iron Mike

   Parris Island's Iron Mike is depicted carrying a Vickers machine gun
   over his right shoulder and an M1911 pistol in his raised left hand,
   created as a memorial to all of the Parris Island graduates who were
   killed during WWI.

   The statue itself is approximately life-sized, standing about eight
   feet high from the heel of his boot to the muzzle of his pistol, and is
   mounted on a five-foot granite base. It was sculpted from solid bronze
   by Robert Ingersoll Aitken, the same sculptor who created the pediment
   on the United States Supreme Court building. Officially entitled
   Monument to U.S. Marines, this Iron Mike was dedicated in 1924 in a
   ceremony presided over by Commandant John A. Lejeune. Due to changes
   and construction around Parris Island, Iron Mike was relocated in 1941
   and it now stands in front of the Parris Island museum.

   The bronze plaque, mounted on the base, reads: "In memory of the men of
   Parris Island who gave their lives in the World War, erected by their
   comrades."

Fort Bragg, North Carolina

   The Airborne Trooper
   Enlarge
   The Airborne Trooper

   Fort Bragg’s The Airborne Trooper is the newest (and perhaps best
   known) Iron Mike statue. Sculpted by Leah Heibert in 1960 and 1961,
   using Sergeant Major James Runyon as a model, the statue depicts a
   World War II-era Airborne trooper with a Thompson submachine gun at the
   ready. Fort Bragg is home to the 82nd Airborne and the monument is
   dedicated to them. Originally installed at the southern entrance on
   Bragg Boulevard, it was moved to the traffic circle in front of the
   post headquarters in 1979 to prevent vandalism and increase visibility.

   Fort Bragg’s original Iron Mike stood 16 feet, 4 inches tall from boot
   heel to the top of his helmet and weighed 3,235 pounds. The original
   statue was made from polyester strips dipped in epoxy and stretched
   over a steel frame. Due to deterioration, it was replaced in 2005 with
   a bronze version. The original was to be refurbished at Simmons Army
   Airfield and moved to the Airborne & Special Operations Museum in
   Fayetteville, North Carolina.

   A digital model of the original was created and used as a guide for the
   new version to ensure faithful replication of Heibert's design. A
   ceremony to dedicate the new version was held Sept. 23, 2005.

   President George W. Bush spoke in front of the statue on July 4, 2006.

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

   The University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus also has a statue
   known as "Iron Mike." Designed by Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson and
   installed in 1906, the statue stands in front of the armory at 15
   Church Street. Also known as the "Student Soldier Memorial", this Iron
   Mike is a monument to alumni who served in the Spanish-American War.
   The statue is 9 feet tall and stands on a 6-foot granite base,
   depicting a soldier clad in a period uniform with a campaign hat and a
   Krag-Jørgensen rifle.

   The actual name of the sculpture is The Hiker. Thirty-nine copies of
   Kitson's "Hiker" are still in existence, spread across the United
   States from Main Street in Wakefield, Massachusetts to Capitol Park in
   Sacramento, California. The University of Minnesota's "Iron Mike" is
   one of the oldest "Hikers" in the U.S., possibly rivalled by one in
   Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Others

   There are many other similar statues throughout the United States, most
   of them World War I monuments. The most well-known is a sculpture by
   Ernest Moore Viquesney entitled Spirit of the American Doughboy. While
   the original statue design itself never received the nickname "Iron
   Mike", residents of some of the locales in which the copies can be
   found refer to their local monuments as such.

   The U.S. Army Infantry Centre at Fort Benning has a World War II
   monument entitled Follow Me which is called "Iron Mike" by some, but is
   much more commonly referred to by its proper title.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Mike"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
