I spotted this aggresive sculpture while strolling on Devon Avenue recently. "The Spirit of the Fighting Yank" by Harry A. Cooper is a life-sized bronze figure on a high pedestal protected by an iron picket enclosure. The figure, a fully geared army soldier, is striding forward, about to lob a live grenade with his taut right arm, staring out intently at his target. The figure is located at the corner of Devon Avenue and Fairfield in Chicago's "Little India" neighborhood, outside of Republic Bank, this branch of which is housed in a brick colonial-style building inspired by Independence Hall in Philadelphia, site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the original home of the Liberty Bell.
It is especially significant, then that the plaque on the Yank's black granite base reads "Lest We Forget They Died...That We Can Live in Independence." The dedication date is May 30, 1958, the same day that unidentified veterans from WWII and The Korean War were interred at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery. Unlike most other memorials to war veterans, though, this figure is frozen in a perpetual pose of impending violence, suggesting that there is no restful peace for the dead of wars. This violent posture is particularly disturbing given that the figure's apparent target, identified by his line of sight, is the street sign for Devon Avenue at the corner, above which is the city placard identifying this section of the street as memorial "Gandhi Marg [Way]." The threat of violence as a remembrance of independence is, of course, the antithesis of Gandhi's way. So, every August when thousands of people process down Devon Avenue celebrating Indian Independence Day, the disconnect between militaristic patriotic fervor and the true spirit of independence is most acute. There must be a reason there is a protective iron fence around this sculpture, but this year, hardly any of the apparently peace-loving paraders of Indian origin and descent even glanced at the fighting Yank. His grip on the grenade, though, never loosened.
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