TROOPS FORM LIBERTY BELL
Article from Andover News 1918
Submitted by William A. Greene
A Number of Andover Boys Were in the Picture.
Ralph E. Temple is showing a remarkable picture of the Liberty Bell. The bell is made by the formation of living men training for service. (WW I) Mr. Temple, John Karcanes and other Andover men were in the group.
On the 20th of June, 1918, a beautiful afternoon at the great army cantonment, Camp Dix, twenty-five thousand soldiers assembled and formed a living embodiment of this famed Liberty Bell.
The formation and ground measurements of this historic picture were previously prepared by correctly applying the law of perspective. Thousands of yards of tape were laid on the ground to indicate and guide the formation. The following ground measurements seem almost incredible.
Length of beam across the top: 368 feet
Width of bell as bottom: 64 feet
Length of each bolt: 395 feet
Width of beam, top to bottom: 435 feet
Total length, top to bottom: 580 feet
The bolt is over three times the length of the bell itself.
The length of the beam is almost six times the width of the bell.
The beam required more than eleven times the number of men required for the bell.
Number of officers and men composing the picture: 25,000.
This all took a week to prepare and a tower 80 feet high was built for the photographer for the shooting.
A 11 x 14 inch view camera was used.