A COMMEMORATIVE wreath laying will take place at the Czechoslovak Memorial Fountain in Jephson Gardens, Leamington on Sunday June 18.
The poignant event will mark the 81st anniversary of the deaths of seven paratroopers during a daring mission to assassinate high ranking Nazi Reinhard Heydrich who was considered the architect of the Holocaust.
Taking place at 11am, the Friends of the Czechoslovak Memorial Fountain will be joined by the children and grandchildren of the Czechoslovak veterans who erected the Fountain, the Ambassador of the Czech Republic, the Head of Mission of the Slovak Republic, the chairman of Warwick District Council and Leamington’s mayor. Also in attendance will be pupils from the Czech and Slovak school in Warwick.
The Secretary of Friends of the Czechoslovak Memorial Fountain, Georgina Pavel, said: “We, family members and friends, warmly invite local residents to follow in the footsteps of the Czechoslovak veterans who gathered every year by the fountain to remember the paratroopers, and other soldiers, pilots and patriots who lost their lives while fighting fascist aggression and to hope for peace and freedom.”
WDC chairman Coun Sidney Syson added: “I am honoured to be asked to join the Friends and other dignitaries to take part in this annual tradition by laying flowers to pay tribute to the bravery and courage of the Czechoslovak soldiers who lost their lives during World War II.”
Erected in 1968 by Czechoslovak veterans and sculpted in the shape of a parachute by designer John French, the memorial fountain honours the brave paratroopers from the Free Czechoslovak Army some of whom made their home in Leamington during the Second World War following the invasion of Czechloslovakia by Nazi Germany.
