In Vidriži, a memorial sign at the place where LKOK Vilis Gelbe and two soldiers of his team fell
Memorial site
In Vidriži, at the turn to Lēdurga, during the Freedom Struggle on June 19, 1919, Marine First Lieutenant Vilis Gelbe and two soldiers fell in battle.
Vilis Gelbe is buried in the Limbaži cemetery. Vilis Gelbe was awarded the III class of the Lāčplēš War Order (No. 895) for his heroic deed at Vidrižu manor.
Currently, three commemorative crosses installed in 1989 can be seen at the battle site.
On June 22, 1934, a bronze commemorative plaque made by the artist Stefan Berc was unveiled near the maple growing in the manor park. Already at the beginning of the communist occupation, in the fall of 1940, the memorial plaque disappeared. The maple to which it was nailed also died. At the beginning of the Revival, on June 19, 1989, on the 70th anniversary of the death of Gelbe and two soldiers of his team - corporal Krustiņš and soldier Krūza - at the crossroads where a memorial plaque used to be, on the initiative of the Environmental Protection Club and Latvian People's Front branches of Limbažu county, installed three wooden crosses made in folk style by Jānis Eglīš. By the decision of the executive committee of Limbažu district in April 1991, this memorial place was included in the list of historical monuments of local significance.
Used sources and references:
J.Lismanis, "1915-1920. In memory of battles and fallen soldiers: memorial sites of the First World War and Latvian Liberation battles." Riga: NIMS, 1999.
J.Ulmis "For the beloved fatherland...: Cavalier of the Order of Lāčplēš, Marine First Lieutenant Vilis Gelbe in the creation of the armed forces of Northern Latvia and in the Cēsi battles of the Latvian Liberation War". Limbaži: Limbaži Museum, 2018.
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