In Feb. 21-27 issue
By Greg Wells
Times Journal Managing Editor



A bystander points out a part of the Doughboy statue. The yellow truck in the background crashed into it.

"All I saw was a cloud of dust," said Jamestown Police Lt. Tony King.

The officer said he was about to chase a truck he'd seen speeding down U.S. 127 toward the square in Jamestown when the vehicle launched into the air, careened off the metal doughboy statue and then the flag pole before coming to rest on the other side of the monument.

At the scene was the yield sign the truck had clipped from the north end of the square the damaged stairs on that same end of the monument, which had served as a ramp to launch the truck into the air, over the pedestal and into the historical statue, which was smashed.

The truck was a 1995 Ford pickup driven by Danny R. Wilson, 49, of Somerset. Wilson was taken by ambulance to the Russell County Hospital, where King reports he was cited for driving under the influence.

The Doughboy Memorial Statue was taken by pickup truck for storage by the city. His fate is as yet unknown.

The rifle and left hand of the statue was broken off and the rifle was broken in two. The base was deformed and torn, as was the elbow of the left arm. The right arm was broken off near the elbow.

The flag pole was also seriously damaged.

King reported the wreck to the dispatch center at about 9:15 p.m., and there were numerous firefighters on scene in moments since the department's training night had just ended.

Several officers at the scene also noted that it was almost as if the Doughboy had attempted to fend off his attacker, there was paint from the truck on the point of the bayonet and the truck's hood showed a corresponding crease up it's center.

The statue was dedicated on November 11, 1937 by the American Legion Post #133 and the monument at the base of the "Doughboy" lists the names of Russell Countians killed while serving our country during past wars.