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Monument aux volontaires américains

Memorial to American Volunteers

 Jean Boucher
1923

Paris / Monument aux volontaires américains   Paris / Monument aux volontaires américains

Description

Bronze statue of a soldier on a plinth, showing two soldiers shaking hands in front of an allegorical figure of Victory. The bronze statue of a soldier was in restauration when we visited Paris on 25 May 2011.

Inscription(s)

A LA VOLONTAIRES AMERICAINS MORTS POUR LA FRANCE

(List of names)

Hail brothers and farewell you are
twice blest brave hearts
double your glory is who perished
thus
for you have died for france and
vindicated us
alan seeger

Salut freres, adieu, grands morts
deux fois merci!
Double a jamais est votre gloire
D'etre morts pour la france et d'etre
morts aussi
pour l'honneur de notre memoire
trad andre rivoire

Yet sought they neither recompense
nor praise
nor to be mentioned in another breath
than their blue coated comrades whose
great days
It was their pride to share by share
even to the death
alan seeger

Ils ne poursuivaient pas de recompense
vaine.
ils ne desiraient rien que d'etre sans remord
Freres des soldats bleus a l'honneur
a la peine.
Et de vivre leur vie eet de mourier leur mort
Trad. andre rivoire

Signed: Jean Boucher Scul.
victor lesage arch & ch miltgen
4 - 7 - 23

Annotation

Dedicated on 4 July 1923 by the President of the French Council of State, Raymond Poincaré to the Americans who had volunteered to fight in World War I in the service of France. The monument had been financed through a public subscription. Boucher had used a photograph of the soldier and poet, Alan Seeger, as his inspiration, and Seeger's name can be found, among those of twenty-three others who had fallen in the ranks of the French Foreign Legion, on the back of the plinth. Also, on either side of the base of the statue, are two excerpts from Seeger's Ode in Memory of the American Volunteers Fallen for France, a poem written shortly before his death on 4 July 1916. Seeger intended that his words should be read in Paris on 30 May of that year, at an observance of the American holiday, Decoration Day (later known as Memorial Day).

Sculptor

Sources & Information

Tags

Locatie (N 48°52'3" - E 2°17'42") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

Item Code: frif019; Photograph: 25 May 2011
Of each statue we made photos from various angles and also detail photos of the various texts.
If you want to use photos, please contact us via the contact form (in Dutch, English or German).
© Website and photos: René & Peter van der Krogt

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