The monument was created to honour the memory of the volunteers who were the first to die in the battles against the Bermontians. In 1925, the residents of Radviliškis Town built a monument from field stones in the old town cemetery, where the first volunteers killed in the battles against the Bermontinians, Gracijonas Sakalauskas and Jonas Jaraminas, were reburied. The grandson Stasys Laumakis remembers when he asked Gracijonas’s parents what kind of monument they would like for their son, the answer was: “sheep’s head” stones (in such a way the stones of the native fields were called). These stones were used to immortalise the volunteers in Radviliškis cemetery. In 1928 or 1929, two town streets were named after Gracijonas Sakalauskas and Jonas Jaraminas.
During the formation of independent Lithuania, a Lithuanian municipality and a local armed guard were established in the town. However, in January 1919, the town was occupied by the Red Army, and in October of the same year, Bermontians invaded Radviliškis. The attack against Bermontians is known as the Radviliškis or Šiauliai Operation. During the battles, the town was lost by both parties several times. The fiercest fighting took place at the end of today’s Maironio Street and near the mill, where the enemies were entrenched. On 22 November 1919, Lithuanian volunteers occupied the Radviliškis manor, and later the mill. 11 Lithuanian soldiers were killed and around 30 were wounded in the fighting near Radviliškis. On October 15 of that year, two young heroic volunteers – Gracijonas Sakalauskas and Jonas Jaraminas – sacrificed their lives here for the freedom of the Motherland.
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