Inscription on plaque – NA VĚČNOU PAMÁTKU OBĚTEM OKUPACE 1938 – 1945 NA VĚČNOU PAMÁTKU AMERICKÉ ARMÁDĚ, KTERÉ VDĚČÍME ZA SVÉ OSVOBOZENÍ 1. KVĚTNA 1945. IN MEMORY OF THE MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO WHOM WE OWE DEEP GRATITUDE FOR OUR LIBERATION MAY 1 1945. .
The American unit formed a phalanx, and during their advance toward Díly, citizens in the local folk costumes welcomed the soldiers with bread and salt. Surrendering German soldiers were behind them. Meanwhile, in their portable radio transceivers the US soldiers heard that some of the welcomers were Germans in disguise, and thus they stopped and receded into the forest—they were expecting a fight. This is how the event was recalled by a contemporary witness, who led the unit into Postřekov. A soldier nicknamed Buddy who died during this event had said: my father fell on the last day of World War I, and I’ll fall on the last day of World War II. His prediction almost came true.
A fully occupied jeep carrying six American soldiers hit an anti-tank mine. The jeeps behind it were lighter and thus did not trigger it. Witnesses recall how for several days after the event, the soldiers’ bodies lay in the forest, far from the center of the explosion.The end of the war was dramatic in Díly. On the evening of April 30, 1945, the village was shelled by American artillery—apparently due to two German armored transports sitting at the edge of a nearby forest. A total of 63 grenades hit the village in one night, damaging several houses. Gunfire from battles over the crossings through the Bohemian Forest could be heard here for several days as well. On May 1, 1945 the first car of the US Army’s 3rd Division entered Díly. The village was now liberated. On that same day, a car was destroyed in the forest above Dobrá voda, killing 5 American soldiers. Thirty-five soldiers were lodged in Díly, and firing positions were set up here for several mortars and cannons and five tanks, from which the German positions were shelled. The liberation of this region was very difficult; it took many battles and many of the lives of those who brought freedom to this area. Josef Beroušek from Díly also sacrificed his life during the liberation of the nearby village of Otov.
SGT Walter M. “Buddy” BASINGER
SSGT William Q. HOWELL
PFC Alfred “Red” SIMONS
PVT Richard V. PEGG SR
PFC James V. PEGG SR
PFC Marion L. McILWAIN
Díly citizen JOSEF BEROUŠEK
The Paths of Liberation—The Pilsen Region