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.