By the end of April, a memorial dedicated to the 97th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army, which participated in the liberation of western Czechoslovakia in April and May 1945, will be completed. It is being built in Skvrňany on Na Okraji Street and is made of steel elements anchored into concrete footings. The memorial is more than 5 metres long and up to 2.14 metres high. The project also includes two new benches and an information desk.

The memorial’s shape is based on the path of the 97th Infantry Division within Europe. The first point is the French port of Le Havre and the last is the city of Pilsen. Symbolically, it rises 214 levels to represent the 214 fallen soldiers of this division on the European battlefield. It is designed from a solid slab of weather-resistant patinated steel eight millimetres thick. The panel features a cutout of the 97th Infantry Division’s coat of arms, the trident in the crest. Each break of the panel bears the name of the city that the finial symbolizes and the date the 97th Infantry Division entered the city. On the bottom edge is the number of casualties that fall on that date. The author of the design is David Foud. The unveiling of the memorial will take place on 3 May 2025 at 3pm.

The 97th Infantry Division, nicknamed the “Trident Division”, appeared in Czechoslovakia on 24 April 1945 and subsequently liberated the town of Cheb on 25 April 1945. The division continued its advance through Czechoslovakia until 6 May 1645, when it reached the outskirts of Pilsen, paving the way for the 16th Armoured Division, which liberated the city of Pilsen on the same day. During its advance through Czechoslovakia, the 97th Infantry Division lost at least 50 soldiers, and the division’s total casualties for the entire war amounted to 214 soldiers. The division did not become involved in the war until the very end of the conflict, arriving in Europe on 27 March 1945. This division boasts the last shot fired on the European battlefield during World War II. The 97th Infantry Division is one of the few American divisions to participate in both the European and Pacific theaters of war during World War II.