Feel free to message me at : john@sterkendries.cc
Doughboy Foundation - first trip - first story
Doughboy Foundation - first trip - first story
Doughboy Foundation - first trip - first story
Doughboy Foundation - first trip - first story
Journey Log: Centennial – Fourth Ride, Part 1.
Published: 27 December 2024
By John Sterkendries
Special to the Doughboy Foundation website

John Sterkendries is riding his 2013 Harley-Davidson Police Electra Glide motorcycle across the United States on a multi-year mission (top center) to find to places, monuments, and people with a relation to World War I in America to which to donate memorial clay figurines (top right) to honor American fallen soldiers. The 600,000 figurines were created to represent 600,000 victims from all countries who fell in Belgium during WWI. In this article, John provides a diary of his latest completed trips in 2023 and 2024.
(Editor’s Note: The origin and first three legs of John Sterkendries’ American WWI journeys are chronicled here and here. Media coverage of his project can be found here and here.)
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I would like to dedicate this leg of my journey to a true friend, Ludo

May 2023
My wife and I invited my close friend Ludo, and his wife Magriet to come to Pittsburgh, PA with us to attend our daughter Axelle’s grad school graduation.
Because my business in Belgium requires my constant attention, we unfortunately were only able to make it a 5-day trip. My next trip would have to wait until August.

August 2023
In between the moment I created a display stand for the statue, and the moment I donated it at the WWI Museum in Kansas City, MO, there were:
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8 Flights
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9 Overnight stays
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A 3000 km motorcycle ride to Kansas City, MO
This journey would end with a 2200 km ride back to Houston, TX in middle 2024.

(Left): The “Coming World Remember Me” red clay statuette of a stooping soldier mounted on a ancient stone from Belgium, for presentation to the National World war I Museum & Memorial in Kansas City, MO. (Right) John Sterkendries (second from left) presenting the mounted statuette to staff at the Museum.
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In order to be able to donate the statue to the WWI Museum in Kansas City, MO, I had to adjust my originally planned journey (A ride following the complete outer edge of the United States) and schedule this extra trip to the middle of the United States.
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Donating the statue together with Axelle at the WWI monument in Washington D.C. was no problem as I was able to make use of a long layover to Pittsburgh, PA.
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A 7-day journey through 10 states:
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Texas Houston
Louisiana Shreveport/Bossier City
Arkansas Hot springs
Tennessee Union City
Kentucky Arlington
Illinois Chester
Missouri Saint-Louis
Iowa Ottumwa
Nebraska Nebraska City
Kansas Hiawatha/Troy
This story begins with the statue that my daughter had which represented her great grandfather, a soldier who fought in WWI.
This statue, made from the clay from the battlefield in Ypres, was displayed in her bedroom in Belgium.
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Axelle graduated in May of 2023 and had already found employment in Pittsburgh.
I had already told her that I would also bring a statue with me to donate during my next trip, together with Dan Dayton and Chris Christopher from the Doughboy Foundation, to the WWI Memorial in Washington DC.
During one of our daily Skype conversations, she told us that she wanted to donate “her statue” representing her great-grandfather to the WW1 monument in Washington DC.
She would like this statue to be in the country where she lives and will have her future.
This way, her great-grandfather is close to her, and he can watch over her from Washington D.C. when my wife and me are not in the U.S.
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So, there was a lot of work to be done:
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A flight for me from Brussels to Washington D.C.
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A flight for Axelle from Pittsburgh to Washington DC (to donate her statue to the WWI memorial together with me).
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A flight both of us back to Pittsburgh.
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A flight for me from Pittsburgh to Houston.
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Riding the motorcycle through 10 states from Houston to Kansas City, 3000 km. (I donated a statue to the WWI Museum in Kansas City)
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A flight for me from Kansas City to Pittsburgh.
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A flight for me from Pittsburgh to Brussels with a layover from in Washington D.C.
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August 7th, 2023
On August 7th, at 1:00 pm, I landed in Washington D.C.
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Axelle had landed 2 hours earlier.
We rented a car and made our way to our appointment: donating her statue to the WWI memorial. We had to be on time because there is a daily tap at the WWI monument at exactly 05:00 pm.
After this tap, we would hand over the statue.
With only 45 minutes left, Chris Christopher guided us via text through the very busy traffic of Washington D.C., to their office located next to the White House.
Finally, with the goal in sight, only 200 meters and 10 minutes to go, suddenly all traffic stopped?…
A large number of police motorcycles and among them, three large SUVs and “The Beast.”
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