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
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
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 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
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.