On Saturday, November 1, 2025, at 11 AM, a monument to Earl Ingram, American WWII veteran, liberator of Pilsen, Kříše, and southwestern Bohemia, will be unveiled in Kříše

On Saturday, November 1, 2025, at 11 a.m., a monument to Earl Ingram, the American WWII veteran, liberator of Pilsen, Kříše, and southwestern Bohemia, regular participant and one of the most prominent faces of the Pilsen Freedom Festival, will be unveiled in Kříše.

Earl Ingram was born on September 2, 1922, into a family with a strong military tradition. He joined the United States Army at the age of eighteen in 1940. He fought his way across France from the beaches of Normandy. He took part in the difficult winter battle in the Ardennes in Belgium. In May 1945, he was a member of Company L, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. In Kříše on the demarcation line, he served as commander of a Sherman tank platoon. His tanks formed a roadblock. He was contacted twice by Soviet officers with a request to pass through the roadblock. He resolved the situation each time through negotiation and to the benefit of all parties. After two weeks in Kříše, he was transferred to Plzeň, where he supervised captured German soldiers. After World War II, he served in Korea and Vietnam. From 1994, as a retired colonel, he was a regular visitor to the Liberation Festival Pilsen. On that occasion, he enjoyed returning every year to visit his new friends in Kříše. In 2020, he was awarded honorary citizenship of the municipality of Břasy. Earl Ingram died at the age of 99 on September 27, 2021.