Original Item. Only One Available. This is a great chalk art statue of a Marine Corps bulldog, dating to World War II. The statue measures 7 ¼” with a 5 ¼” base diameter and depicts a painted bulldog seated upon a base wearing a Camouflage-painted M1 helmet with a helmet net. The base has an EGA with the side reading U.S. MARINE.

Marines have had a bulldog as a mascot since 1922, shortly after WWI, when they were allegedly called "devil dogs" (German: Teufelshunde) by their German opponents during the Battle of Belleau Wood. According to Bob Aquilina of the Marine Corps History Division, the term actually predated the battle. The first bulldog mascot was called Jiggs, who was succeeded by a bulldog named Private Pagett, then Jiggs II, and then several Smedleys, named after General Smedley Butler, then the most-decorated Marine. The first Chesty was named in July 1957, after Chesty Puller, the most decorated Marine in history. Since then, the Marine Corps mascot at the Washington Barracks, their oldest post, have been named Chesty, with an incrementing Roman numeral.

A great piece, ready for further research and display.