Not alone: The U.S. Navy’s Lone Sailor Memorial statue, formerly viewed just at Market Square Plaza in Washington, D.C., has a second home as of Oct. 31, and he is hardly “lone.” Indeed, his identical twin now is surrounded by about 55,000 recruits at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. The 7-foot-high bronze figure of a sailor, created by internationally known Connecticut sculptor Stanley Bleifeld, is the focal point of a new plaza immediately inside the Recruit Training Command Gate on Buckley Road west of Sheridan Road.
Illinois Navy League President and Project Coordinator Ron Weeks of Hawthorn Woods spearheaded the project, which was “definitely” worth the moments of panic he had in raising $350,000 for the plaza and the statue recasting.
The vision was “to put a separate edition of the Lone Sailor at Great Lakes, where it would be seen by recruits and would instill the Navy’s core values: honor, courage and commitment,” Weeks said.