Doughboy

"Doughboy" was a popular nickname for the American infantryman during World War I. Though the origins of the term are not certain, the nickname was still in use as of the early 1940s, when it was gradually replaced by " G.I." as the following generation enlisted in World War II.

Background

Philology

The origins of the term are unclear. The word was in wide circulation a century earlier in both Britain and America, albeit with different meanings. Horatio Nelson's sailors and the Duke of Wellington's soldiers in Spain, for instance, were both familiar with fried flour dumplings called "doughboys",Evans, Ivor H. (ed.) (1981) '' Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'' New York: Harper & Row, p.353 the precursor of the modern doughnut. Independently, in the United States, the term had come to be applied to bakers' young apprentices, i.e., "dough-boys". In ''Moby-Dick'' (1851), Herman Melville nicknamed the timorous cabin steward "Doughboy".

Average age

Infantrymen recruited for World War I were very young, often teenaged boys. The average age of a "doughboy" in World War I was less than 25 years old. Fifty-seven percent of infantrymen were under the age of 25, with some enlisting as young as seventeen.

History

Doughboy as applied to the infantry of the U.S. Army first appears in accounts of the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848,Beale, Paul (ed.) (1989) ''A Concise History of Slang and Unconventional English: From "A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English" by Eric Partridge'' New York: Macmillan. p.134. without any precedent that can be documented. A number of theories have been put forward to explain this usage:
* Cavalrymen used the term to deride foot soldiers, because the brass buttons on their uniforms looked like the flour dumplings or dough cakes called "doughboys", or because of the flour or pipe clay which the soldiers used to polish their white belts.Taylor, David A. (March 1998
"The History of the Doughnut"
'' Smithsonian Magazine''
* Observers noticed U.S. infantry forces were constantly covered with chalky dust from marching through the dry terrain of northern Mexico, giving the men the appearance of unbaked dough or the mud bricks of the area known as adobe, with "adobe" transformed to 'dobies' and then further into "doughboy".Hanlon, Michael E
"Origins of 'Doughboy'"
''Doughboy Center: Stories of the American Expeditionary Force''
* The soldiers' method of cooking field rations of the 1840s and 1850s into doughy flour-and-rice concoctions baked in the ashes of a camp fire. This does not explain why only infantrymen received the appellation.

One explanation offered for the usage of the term in World War I is that female Salvation Army volunteers went to France to cook millions of doughnuts and bring them to the troops on the front line, although this explanation ignores the usage of the term in the earlier war. One jocular explanation for the term's origin was that, in World War I, the doughboys were "kneaded" in 1914 but did not rise until 1917.

Postwar

Examples from the Interwar and WW2 eras include the 1942 song "Johnny Doughboy Found a Rose in Ireland", recorded by Dennis Day, Kenny Baker, and Kay Kyser, among others, the 1942 musical film '' Johnny Doughboy'', and the character "Johnny Doughboy" in ''Military Comics''.

Monuments and memorials

A popular mass-produced sculpture of the 1920s called the '' Spirit of the American Doughboy'' shows a U.S. soldier in World War I uniform.

In September of 2024, the National World War I Memorial unveiled a sculpture called ''A Soldier's Journey'' which depicts a single “doughboy” as he leaves home, witnesses death and destruction on the front lines and makes his way back.

See also

* American entry into World War I
* Digger – equivalent for Australian and New Zealand soldiers, originated in World War I
* Poilu – equivalent term for French soldiers of World War I
* Tommy Atkins – equivalent term for British soldiers of World War I

References

Further reading

* Faulstich, Edith. M. "The Siberian Sojourn" Yonkers, N.Y. (1972–1977)
* Gawne, Jonathan. ''Over There!: The American Soldier in World War I'' (1999)- 83 pages, heavily illustrated
* Grotelueschen, Mark Ethan. ''The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I'' (2006
excerpt and text search
* Gutièrrez, Edward A. ''Doughboys on the Great War: How American Soldiers Viewed Their Military Experience'' (2014)
* Hallas, James H. ''Doughboy War: The American Expeditionary Force in World War I'' (2nd ed. 2009
online edition
includes many primary sources from soldiers
* Hoff, Thomas. ''US Doughboy 1916-19'' (2005)
* Kennedy, David M. ''Over Here: The First World War and American Society'' (1980
excerpt and text search
* Nelson, James Carl. ''The Remains of Company D: A Story of the Great War'' (2009)
* Ranck, dwinCarty. ''The Doughboys' Book'' (1925)
* Rubin, Richard ''The Last of the Doughboys: the forgotten generation and their forgotten world war'' plus
online webcast presentation of book
* Schafer, Ronald. ''America in the Great War'' (1991)
* Skilman, Willis Rowland. ''The A.E.F.: Who They Were, what They Did, how They Did it'' (1920) 231 pp
full text online
* Smith, Gene. ''Until the Last Trumpet Sounds: The Life of General of the Armies John J. Pershing'' (1999), popular biography.
* Snell, Mark A. ''Unknown Soldiers: The American Expeditionary Forces in Memory and Remembrance'' (2008)
* Thomas, Shipley. ''The History of the A. E. F.'' (1920), 540pp
full text online
* Votow, John. ''The American Expeditionary Forces in World War I'' (2005) - 96 pp
excerpt and text search
* Werner, Bret. ''Uniforms, Equipment And Weapons of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I'' (2006)
* Zieger, Robert. ''America's Great War: World War 1 and the American Experience'' (2000)

External links

*

The Doughboy Center: The Story of the American Expeditionary Forces
at Worldwar1.com

{{Authority control
Infantry
Military slang and jargon