Monument to the officer of the Independence Struggle Jonas Stapulionis in Joniškėlis
Memorial site

J. Stapulionis was born in 1896 in the village of Gustonys, and died on September 22, 1920 in a battle with the Poles near Kapčiamiestis and was buried in the chapel of the old cemetery in Joniškėlis. In 1935, a monument of unique shapes was erected by relatives, depicting a cannon and speaking in the words of Maironis: "Oh, do not cry, mother, that a young son...", the author of the monument was Petras Vaivada. In the same year, the remains of J. Stapulionis were moved from the chapel to a specially prepared basement of the monument. This memorial symbolically honored all the soldiers of the "death battalion" who died for the freedom of Lithuania. In 1919, a local partisan unit with the ominous name of the "death battalion" gathered in Joniškėlis. With the forces of this battalion, the Bolsheviks were defeated and driven out of Northern Lithuania, the unit, which fought successfully, was reorganized into the 9th Infantry Regiment, and on February 16, 1920, it was given the name of Duke Vytenis.