Tuesdsay, November 7, 2023 – A STATUE TO REMEMBER THOSE LOST

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VOTING IS TAKING PLACE

AT PS 217

TODAY

NOVEMBER 7 AT  PS 217

6 A.M. TO 9 P.M.

59 ED

504, 510, 516, 531,
536, 540, 546
 MAIN STREET

60  ED

1 East Loop Road
 405, 415, 425,
 455, 460, 465,
475, 480
MAIN STREET

61  ED

 900 MAIN ST.
888 MAIN ST.
 2,4
10, 20, 30, 40
RIVER ROAD

551, 555, 556, 560,
575, 576, 580,
 595, 625
 MAIN ST.

62 ED

551, 555, 556, 560,
575, 576, 580,
 595, 625
 MAIN ST.

DUE TO REDISTRICTING OUR ELECTION DISTRICTS HAVE CHANGED FOR THE ELECTION ON TUESDAY. 

PLEASE CHECK HERE AND SEE WHAT TABLE YOUR BUILDING IS ASSIGNED TO. 
THIS MAKES VOTING EASIER AND FASTER.
THANKS FOR YOUR COOPERATION.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7,  2023

The most sorrowful

doughboy statue is in this

West Side park

ISSUE  #1120


EPHEMERAL NEW YORK

In Flanders Fields

BY JOHN MCCRAE

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.


We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

        In Flanders fields.


Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

    The torch; be yours to hold it high.

    If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

        In Flanders fields.

He’s a slight soldier, with the strap of his rifle slung
over his shoulder and a contemplative expression meant to engage us.
 And unlike most statues depicting military men, he’s offering flowers. In this case, he’s holding poppies—a flower that signifies loss and remembrance.

The doughboy of De Witt Clinton Park has stood inside the Eleventh Avenue and 52nd Street entrance to this Hell’s Kitchen green space since 1930. Officially the monument is known as “Clinton War Memorial,” per NYC Parks.

It’s one of nine doughboy statue erected in city parks after World War I, when neighborhoods across New York sought to honor local residents who lost their lives on the battlefields of Europe. I’ve seen the doughboy statues in Chelsea, the West Village, Red Hook, and Washington Heights.

But what distinguishes this doughboy is that he’s standing on a granite pedestal inscribed with verse from “In Flanders Field”—the poem written by Canadian physician and lieutenant colonel John McCrae, who penned it after a fellow soldier perished during battle in 1915 in Belgium.

On the other side of the pedestal is an inscription from “comrades and friends” explaining that the monument is a memorial “to the young folk of the neighborhood/who gave their all in the World War.”

Though I couldn’t find an account of it, this statue was likely dedicated in a ceremony attended by thousands. “The doughboys were erected when parks and monuments were more important in the life of a neighborhood,” stated Jonathan Kuhn, curator of monuments for the Parks Department, in a New York Daily News article on the doughboys from 1993. “Also, there was a feeling that this was the last war, and Americans wanted to honor the ordinary heroes who fought the war that would end all wars.”

I can’t help but wonder if the De Witt Clinton Park doughboy was modeled on an actual local kid who went to war and never came back. If so, his identity is likely lost to the ages—and he speaks to us only through bronze and granite.

TUESDAY  PHOTO OF THE DAY

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MONDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

GUY LUDWIG, JAMES MORSE GOT IT RIGHT
FROM JAY JACOBSON

Is this Monday photo a picture of the upscale restaurant that was part of the TWA building at Idlewild Airport?  I have no recollection of ever being in that restaurant, but my guess is based on the shape of the room as shown in the Shorpy shot!
Glad we got back to NYC in time to vote early!

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