Human Statue of Liberty (Goddess of Liberty), Camp Dodge, Iowa :

Eighteen thousand soldiers of the Camp Dodge, 163rd Depot Brigade formed the silhouette of the Statue of Liberty for the renowned photograph shot by Chicago, Illinois photographers, Mole and Thomas on August 22, 1918 at 2:30 p.m.

"COL. William Newman, commander of the 163rd Depot Brigade selected the statue of liberty as the formation for the brigade picture." "COL. Rush S. Wells, Regimental Commander, had charge of the formation." COL Newman was an 1892 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy.

"Beginning at 1:00 p.m. companies were assembled and by 2:30 the proper formation was completed and the photograph taken. The ground was marked out by blocks, in the shape of the statue, which facilitated getting the soldiers into correct formation. From the goddess' feet to the tip of the torch the symbolical statue measured 499 yards. The picture was taken from a tower forty feet high, constructed for the occasion. On account of the mass formation and the heat twelve men fainted and were carried from the field." The high temperature reported for the day was 94 degrees.

The photograph was taken with an 11" x 14" view camera following several day's worth of work by the photographers to set up the image on the ground using thousands of yards of white tape. In addition, substantial coordination was required between the photographers and COL. Newman's staff to ensure the various folds of the gown, the bible, the left hand, and the crown was properly outlined by soldiers wearing white shirts. The design for the living picture was laid out on the drill ground at Camp Dodge , west of current building S 34 and Maintenance Road . "The large photographs were on sale for $1 at all the exchanges in the camp. Many soldiers sent the photo home to their families.

The layout at the reported 499 yards was nearly 5 times the length of the actual Statue of Liberty and the viewer will note that the correct perspective is maintained. The number of men in the various parts include: Flame of Torch - 12,000 men, Torch - 2,800, Right Arm - 1,200 men, Body, Head and balance of figure - 2,000 men.

Some have speculated that the soldiers in the photograph were members of the 88th Division who had been in training at Camp Dodge . This is erroneous as on August 16, 1918 all organizations of the Division were reported to have left Camp Dodge . The soldiers in the picture were members of the 163rd Depot Brigade under the command of COL Newman.

Interesting Bob. As a history buff I'm surprised that I've never seen or heard of this before. Shorpy.com should have found this by now.
Hard to believe it was taken from a altitude of only 40 feet. From the perspective and horizon it's looks like it would be higher than that.

At first, I was questioning the numbers: 18,000 men . . and 12,000 of those just in the torch? But then you have to figure that, to keep the dimensions true to the original, there would be fewer men needed closer to the camera and increasingly more men needed to fill a given space in the parts of the "statue" further from the camera. The guys who figured out all this are amazing.

Yes I would think it difficult to figure out how to outline such a figure on the ground without being able to see it from above- but to do it when taking into account the extreme perspective distortion that results from such a relative low angle would seemingly require a computer to calculate.

Ofcourse it always amazed me how much men accomplished before computers were invented. Many engineering tasks that today would seem impossible without computers was routinely accomplished back in the pre-computer age. I honestly think previous generations had ingenuity and fortitude that we lack today.

When you consider some of the ancient monuments . . how were they created so perfectly when viewed from the sky, by people who would have no known means of having that lofty perspective to guide them? Little wonder that their existence has led people to believe that extra-terrestrials visited our Earth in prior millenia.

Yes, and even more recently, such engineering accomplishments as the Empire State building, Hoover Dam and numerous bridges were accomplished with primitive tools by today's standards. And yet- as I mentioned in a previous post- despite all the hi-tech technology we have today it seems to take longer than ever to build things and it always wind up costing most than they are suppose to. Ofcourse much of this is due to the myriad of red-tape rules and regulations that governs everything these days. It probably takes 5 permits and a Environmental Impact study to decide where to set a portapotty these days.

Come on! Besides US recent accomplishments such as "Empire State building, Hoover Dam", you could name the Egyptian and Mexican pyramids, Angkor Wat, Borobudur, Great Zimbabwe, the Great Wall of CHina, Gothic cathedrals, Roman temples, theaters, and circuses, Greek temples, etc.... all of whihc are a ot more impressive to me in terms of result accomplished vs. availability of technical means.

Marseil.

Ok Marseil, excuse me for being provincial. I'm not the world traveler you are so I speak of things I'm familiar with.
And I acknowledge your point, but I don't know how long your examples took to build- I do know how long the things I mentioned did and can therefore readily relate that to how long similar things would take today.