On a roadside outside of town.

The memorial consists of an informational panel and a marker made of a stone with a brass inscribed plaque attached to it.

The marker remembers 1LT William R. Preddy of the 503^rd Fighter Squadron, 339^th Fighter Group – "the Chequers" whose plane crashed at this location on April 17, 1945.  Preddy was flying his P-51D “Rusty ((44-11623) as wingman to his Squadron Commander, Captain Ray Reuter.  Reuter was flying his P-51 ( 44-72485) leading his squadron out of Airbase F-378 (Fowlmere) to strafe Airfields in present day Czech Republic.  Both Preddy and Reuter were shot down and killed.  

Bill Preddy was the brother of the P-51 Mustang Ace, George Preddy.  

The Preddy Memorial Foundation tells the story of this final mission:

William Preddy and his Commanding Officer, Captain Raymond Reuter were on a strafing mission with their squadron, the 503^rd Fighter Squadron of the 339^th Fighter Group “The Chequers” based out of  Air Station F-378 (Fowlmere).  Over what is now the Czech Republic, Preddy and Reuter   gave chase to two Me- 262 jets after strafing airfields at Klatovy and Eisendorf. Although the Me 262 is much faster than the Mustang by about 100 mph, on some occasions the Mustangs were successful in catching the short range Me-262s in their landing pattern. However, apparently they did not catch the 262s ; their chase led them to Ceske Budejovice –– about 75 miles south of Prague –– where they decided to make one last strafing run before going home. Both were shot down by enemy ground fire. Reuter’s aircraft exploded when hit (Near Boršov nad Vltavou). Preddy crash-landed at a small village (Zaluzi) where he was rescued by a Czech citizen, Jan Smejkal. Jan took him about five kilometers in a horse-drawn cart to a German emergency treatment center where he was given first aid only. We were told by Jan Smejkal that Bill never regained consciousness. The German doctors refused to take Bill to the hospital in Ceske Budejovice. So Jan took him 10 more kilometers to the hospital where he died, probably on the 18th. He was buried on the 19th in a cemetery near the hospital. Later, his body was moved to the Lorraine American Cemetery near St. Avold, France and buried next to his brother George Preddy (Commander of the 328^th Fighter Squadron; 352nd Fighter Group).

A marker to Captain Reuter is located about 10 kilometers north near Borsov nad Vltavou, Czech Republic.  See this website Reuter P-51D (44-72485) Crash Site Memorial.

The text on the marker is written in Czech.  The meaning is:

William R. Preddy

20 July 1924 –

17 April 1945

503^rd Fighter Squadron

339^th Fighter Group

Crashed on this location.

United States Army Air Corps