Iron Mike - Belleau, France

Belleau, France

The Iron Mike at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial at Belleau Wood battlefield is a bronze relief on black marble, simply entitled The Marine Memorial. It was sculpted by Felix Weihs de Weldon, the artist who later designed the giant Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington, D.C. The monument was erected in the heart of the forest to honor the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments of the 4th Marine Brigade which fought there for twenty days in June 1918. Below the statue is a commemorative plaque with a large Eagle, Globe, and Anchor.

The battle was the bloodiest of the U.S. Marine Corps' history at that point, and the 5th and 6th Regiments were awarded the French Fourragère and Croix de Guerre. Following the war, the French government renamed the forest "Wood of the Marine Brigade," and this Iron Mike was dedicated there in 1923.