In the grass at the Y intersection of the D906 and rue d'Arbouville.

Monument
A stone eagle perched on a stone wall bearing inscriptions commemorating US servicemen. An attached plaque lists the servicemen.

On 16 August 1944, seven American soldiers were killed in two ambushes at the south entrance to Rambouillet on what is now the D906. In 1945, French locals chose to erect a monument on the spot. Mr. Gaston Le Bourgeois, sculptor, and Mr. Raymond Cailly, draftsman and painter, created a sculpture which represents an Eagle. Made from local stone, it was financed entirely by the inhabitants of the town and neighboring communes. The owners of the field where the Americans had fallen donated to the town the plot of land where the monument stands. It was inaugurated on 1 June 1947 by President of the Republic of France Vincent Auriol and the US Ambassador to France Jefferson Caffrey. At the time the monument was erected, the identities of the soldiers were unknown. But years of meticulous research by Francoise Winieska resulted in the determination of the seven names, as well as of an American pilot who crashed nearby and a US officer who was killed in the woods at the edge of a nearby road. Five of the names were added to the monument in 1966, but it wasn’t until 1999 that all nine names were added to a single stone plaque on the front of the eagle. Today, a commemorative ceremony is held at the monument every 19 August.

2Lt Smith Plaque:

9th US Air Force

2nd Lt John W. Smith

367th Fighter Squadron

KIA 18th August 1944 Rambouillet

Wall:

A LA MEMOIRE DES SOLDATS AMERICAINS

TOMBES POUR LA LIBERATION

DE NOTRE REGION

EN AOUT 1944

English translation:

IN MEMORY OF THE AMERICAN SOLDIERS

KILLED FOR THE LIBERATION

OF OUR REGION

IN AUGUST 1944