Ohio World War Memorial

The west entrance into the statehouse is symbolically guarded by two renderings of armed men, honoring Ohio residents who served their country in two defining conflicts at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. The Ohio World War Memorial was erected in 1930, the work of Arthur Ivone and marks Ohio's participation in the First World War. Referring to rank and file soldiers as "doughboys" is closely associated with World War I but the term goes back further and has several possible explanations. The most common of these explanations is that the large buttons on the men's uniforms looked like the doughy dumplings eaten in soup. A sweeter story is that the name is connected to the enthusiasm that soldiers had for fried dough-doughnuts!