On the west side of the road.

Plaque

A rectangular stone plaque bearing the US flag and a commemoration message for Colonel Griffith. 

Colonel Griffith is best remembered for being instrumental in saving Chartres Cathedral, one of the most important monuments of medieval civilization, during the battle of Chartres (August 16–18, 1944) in World War II. As Operations Officer (G-3) with Headquarters, for XX Corps, Griffith and his driver searched the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres and climbed to the top of its bell tower. Finding no Germans there, he was able to rescind the order to shell the monument. Eugene Schulz, an operations officer serving under Griffith, described the event as follows: "Nobody knows why he [Griffith] personally went into Chartres. He had to go through ... a few enemy lines there; he went into the Cathedral, and he checked it out—he went through the nave, he climbed the bell tower and he did not find any German snipers at all. So he immediately said to the artillery, 'Rescind that order to shell and destroy'."

Later that day, he was killed in the neighboring town of Lèves, 3.5 km north of Chartres. The people of Lèves set up a plaque here next to the spot where Griffith was killed.

In his honor, a square in Chartres was named after him.

Source of information: en.wikipedia.org

Source of photo: www.memorialgenweb.org

ICI FUT TUÉ

LE 16 AOÛT 1944

LE COLONEL AMERICAIN

WELBORN B. GRIFFITH

English translation:

HERE WAS KILLED

ON AUGUST 16, 1944

THE AMERICAN COLONEL

WELBORN B. GRIFFITH