The First World War cruelly changed the fate of Piletice as well, claiming 12 men. To honor their memory, the village decided to erect a memorial, for which a committee was appointed which represented both the village leadership and local associations and corporations. The first meeting took place in June 1923, during which the sculptor and stonemason Josef Václav Škoda was chosen, who was known in the Hradec Králové region not only for his monumental work, but as a versatile sculptor and stonemason. The budget was set for 10,000 Czechoslovak crowns.
Škoda presented several designs, and the winning one depicted a statue of a kneeling mother with a dreamy gaze and a child holding a linden tree branch. The relief on the front side of the stone block depicts the two-tailed lion, while the back side features a relief of a sword holding a linden tree branch. The sides contain carved names of the fallen: “Bouček Frant. 20, Dušek Josef 19, Dušek Jan 39, Hanuš Josef 23, Jech Josef 32, Krám Josef 20, Kudrnáč Alois 36, Martinek Fr. 28, Nobovtný Josef 31, Rejchl Václav 29, Souček Frant. 41, Šrámek Jan”. The inscription on the block pedestal reads: “To the graves in the distance, your blood has watered the germinating seed of our freedom.”
The monument to the fallen was originally to be unveiled on 15 June 1924, but due to bad weather the unveiling was postponed. It was not until the Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord, the date of which is related to the Christian feast of Easter. It was then on the sunny 19th of June. The unveiling of the monument was opened with an introductory speech by the MP and landowner Jan Černý from Věkoš, followed by speeches by representatives of local associations, the municipal administration, the Hradec Králové garrison, and the legionnaires. The ceremony after the unveiling of the monument to the fallen took place in Jan Kašpar’s garden.
JFB
Monument Preservation
No means of protection have been registered.
