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David Stanley Ford

Statue honors Edmond soldier killed in World War II
Russell Dougherty was first Edmond High graduate to die in the war

JOHN A. WILLIAMS    Comments Comment on this article0
Published: July 4, 2009

EDMOND — He was an Edmond native and the first graduate of Edmond High School killed in World War II.


Several city employees help install a lifesize statue of Russell Dougherty in front of the Edmond elementary school bearing his name in Edmond as the sculptor, Mary Lou Gresham, watches. PHOTO BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN

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Russell Dougherty

Dougherty was an Air Corps bomber pilot flying with the 307th Bomb Group known as the "Lone Rangers” and was awarded the Air Medal for missions in the Pacific.

He was 24 years old and stationed on Guadalcanal when he and 11 crewmen crashed in their B-24 over the Solomon Islands in April 1943.

Statue unveiling
The unveiling of the statue will follow the end of the LibertyFest Parade at the school, 19 N Boulevard.

How to Order a brick
Order forms for bricks can be found at edmondok.com.

Now Russell Dougherty is being honored with a statue on the grounds of the elementary school bearing his name.

The sculptor, Edmond artist Mary Lou Gresham, said she had mixed feelings about being commissioned to create the statue. "I was thoroughly excited about the job and I knew I would do my best, but I wasn’t sure doing a soldier was my forte,” she said.

As Gresham began her work, the Edmond Parks Foundation commissioned a World War II memorial containing a walkway made of bricks stamped with names to circle the statue.

"When I was told how this was going to develop into the World War II memorial, suddenly it became very personal,” Gresham said. "I care about the names on the bricks as much as the statue.”

Curt Munson, chairman of the Edmond Parks Foundation, said eventually he would like to see 4,000 bricks in the walkway. For now he has an immediate goal of selling 400 bricks.

"We’ve sold 91 bricks, so we need to sell another 309,” he said. "(Today) 24 bricks will be in place so people will be able to see how they look.”

Residents can purchase a brick for $100 and have it engraved in honor of a veteran or a loved one, Munson said.

"They don’t have to be a veteran of that war. Maybe they fought in another or it could be in honor of a mom or dad,” he said.

The statue depicts Dougherty in flight gear wearing khakis, a leather jacket and an officer’s hat. He is picking up his parachute as he looks toward the east.

"I want this to be a successful monument to a lot of people,” Gresham said.

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David Stanley Ford


Related Topics: Culture and Lifestyle, History, World War II, World History


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