The 90th ID at Utah Beach
In Memory of ‘Patton’s Favorite’ Division
After a bizarre twenty-four-year-long journey, one of the first monuments designed in remembrance of World War Two was finally put in its rightful place to commemorate the Tough ‘Ombres of the 90th Division.
Even before being demobilized and discharged, the men of the 90th Infantry Division knew they had to do something to honor their fallen brothers. That 'something' became one of the first World War II monuments ever built. Though the twenty-four-year-long pause between its conception and delivery to Utah Beach was a deviation from the original plan, the delay brought together those passionate about the 90th on both sides of the Atlantic and allowed for future collaboration and honoring of their veterans.
After VE Day (Victory in Europe), officers of the 90th Division stationed in Weiden, Germany, decided a monument was necessary to memorialize men of the 90th who died or suffered fighting for the liberation of Europe. These officers collected funds among themselves and from others within the Division stationed nearby to pay for the creation of such a monument. Collectively, they agreed the monument should come from German stone, with German labour. The 'German stone' was granite – specifically, from the quarries at Flossenbürg, which the 90th Division had liberated, along with the nearby concentration camp in April, 1945. The 'German labour' was commissioned from Erick Bock, who was a prisoner of war at the time, and so the work was taken up by his wife and son.
The finished stele was engraved on both granite faces with the words, "To the/ memory/ of the/ heroic dead/ of the/ 90th Infantry Division/ US Army/ 6 June 1944 - 9 May 1945." Decorations would come later, but during this early stage of the monument's life, all that existed was a rather bland chunk of Flossenbürg granite. The Bocks delivered the finished piece to the remaining members of the 90th at Weiden. However, due to poor communication and organization amongst those who had initially commissioned it and the fact that most of them were sent back to the US before the completion of the stele, there was no real plan for transporting it from Weiden to Utah Beach. The last 90th soldiers in Weiden did not know what to do with it and left Europe without seeing the undertaking finalized. Through some undocumented turn of events, the stele ended up abandoned in an area behind the Normandy American Cemetery.
In 1962, Colonel Eames Yates, a 90th veteran, located the monument and, incensed, wrote letters to the 90th Infantry Division Association, the American Battle Monument Commission (ABMC), and the Pentagon in an attempt to rally enough interest to have the monument moved. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful.
The stele remained in the same location, essentially forgotten, until Henri Levaufre, a French 90th Division historian, received a letter in 1968 from the Executive Secretary of the 90th Infantry Division Association, Denby Steel. In short, Steel, on behalf of the 90th veterans in the Association, asked Levaufre to research a possible monument to the 90th lying hidden somewhere in the Normandy American Cemetery, a request to which Levaufre was eager to oblige. After a few reconnaissance trips to the Cemetery, with assistance from his children, he located the monument, nearly obscured behind a rise in the land and overgrown by twenty years of vegetation. He wrote to Steel, in his own words, "something like 'Mission accomplished" (Levaufre, n.d.).
However, this mission was only the first. The problems of transporting the monument thirty-plus miles from the Normandy American Cemetery to Utah Beach, erecting it, then dedicating it remained. Eventually, after much back-and-forth between the 90th Infantry Division Association, the ABMC, Michel de Vallavieille, then mayor of Utah Beach, and Henri Levaufre, an arrangement arose - to have the 90th monument moved in conjunction with a monument for the 4th Infantry Division. In May 1969, the monument was finally placed on Utah Beach. A month later, on June 6th, 1969, two 90th veterans visited the beach: Malcolm Latta and Frank Fultz. Both men were a part of the 357th regiment and were close friends during the war. They had not seen each other since July 4th, 1944, when Fultz was injured and taken away from the regiment. They reunited on Utah Beach and were the first men to lay a wreath at the foot of the 90th monument. Two years later, in July 1971, a 90th Infantry Division Association group came to Periers for an official unveiling and dedication.
Though the monument was in place, dedicated as initially planned to the losses of the 90th, concerns arose regarding its appearance– a simple carved granite stele sitting on the beach. Henri Levaufre recalled General Richard Stilwell, a 90th veteran, saying of the monument, "It's really sad to see such a poor stone to represent all of our lost men and sacrifices." (Levaufre, n.d.)
Thus began a series of improvements in the 1980s, which involved planting a lawn and bushes, the carving being under-painted in red, and the bronze plaque listing the regular and attached units of the 90th during the war being attached to the bottom of the remodeled base. The entire stele and base also moved to a raised platform paved with small granite stones, with large granite stairs leading up to it. Upon completion, the monument was unveiled again on June 7, 1987. The work and vision of the 90th officers in Weiden forty-one years earlier were at last a reality.
In July 1945, simultaneously yet inadvertently with the monument's planning, General George S. Patton, commander of the Third Army, said of the 90th, "Sometimes I think you don't know how good you are. You are the best soldiers in the world. It was a great honor to command you." (90th Infantry Division Association, n.d.) In the present-day US, the 90th Infantry Division is now as forgotten as any other Army Division of World War Two fame – outside of history books and museums, few would even recognize the name. However, the residents of Flossenbürg, Périers, and all other areas the 90th Infantry Division liberated or resided during the world would agree with Patton's sentiment.
These residents hold near and dear to their hearts their gratitude for the 90th's heroism in the face of horror and the individual men who died and suffered for their freedom. If a 90th veteran, or anyone connected with the 90th, appears in one of these villages, wearing their "Tough 'Ombres" insignia, residents are eager to shake their hand and shower them with gratitude and respect. New monuments to the 90th Division continue to appear throughout France: symbols of gratitude, respect, remembrance, and hope.
The monument to the 90th Division on Utah Beach remains hallowed ground for not only liberated residents of France but the remaining 90th veterans, their families, and friends making the pilgrimage to Utah Beach. Its existence provides comfort and validation to those reared in a post-war world resulting from the contributions and sacrifices of their ancestors. The red under-painting on the monument, which stands out starkly from the earthy tones of granite, grass, and sand, calls to mind the bloodshed on that ground nearly eighty years ago, forever equating to the price required for freedom.
(Edited by Laura Bailey)
