Felix Weihs de Weldon was a prominent sculptor of the mid-twentieth century. Born in Austria and trained in Vienna, his early work was exhibited in Vienna and at the Paris Salon. He came to the United States before the outbreak of World War II and served in the U.S. Navy during the war. While still in military service, he crafted a small model of Joe Rosenthal’s famous photograph of the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima’s Mt. Suribachi; the sculpture inspired a congressional commission to recreate the work as the Marine Corps War Memorial. During his ensuing career, de Weldon completed numerous other works in Washington, D.C., including an inaugural bust of President Truman, the American Red Cross Memorial, the Seabees Monument, the National Guard Monument, and the equestrian statue of Simon Bolivar.
CFA Service:
1950–1963