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Colonel Griffith Square

<< Back to Lèves

Details:

Along the road and foot path is a raised plaque.

Plaque

A raised plaque commemorating Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith Jr, G-3 of the XX Corps of the 3rd US Army who was KIA during the liberation of Lèves on August 16, 1944.


Welborn Griffith graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Class of 1925. For centuries, the Chartres cathedral was one of France's treasures and it would have been destroyed if not for Colonel Griffith's heroic action. After searching the cathedral and finding no German troops he rang the cathedral bells as a sign for the Americans not to shoot. He was later killed defending the town of Leves. Every year, on August 16, flowers are placed in front of the building where he died. A plaque, honoring his heroic action, has also been erected on the building. Residents of Leves saw him fall and die and within hours they had him covered with a blanket, bouquets of flowers and an American flag to await the American burial detail who buried him in a temporary grave.

Source: Military Hall of Honor

Monument Text:

Square

Colonel W.B. Griffith

Tue lors de la Liberation

de Lèves le 16 Aout 1944

 

English Translation:

Square Colonel W. B. Griffith

Killed during the Liberation of Lèves on August 16, 1944

Commemorates:

People:

Welborn Barton Griffith

Units:

3rd US Army

United States Army

XX Corps

Wars:

WWII