I must have passed by it a hundred times, noticing, but not really. After all, it’s a reasonably simple monument and tomb in a country full of spectacular churches and medieval castles. That sits along the national route 118 between Couiza and Carcassonne, which runs alongside the River Aude. In this region of southwest France, the visuals are spectacular.

As the route winds along, tracing the path of the River Aude, just outside the small town of Alet-les-Bains (popularly known among tourists today as the site of the “Nostradamus house”), the memorial stands, seeming to attract little attention from locals or the thousands of tourists who pass that way each summer.

However, on August 17 each year, the monument is the focal point of the entire village as they pay homage to First Lieutenant Paul Swank of the US Office of Strategic Services. German grenades killed the American hero and machine-gun fire while fighting to protect French hostages on the afternoon of August 17, 1944.

It soon became evident they didn’t stand a chance against the advancing 2,000 German soldiers. That’s when Swank chose to stay behind and stand against the oncoming German army single-handedly. At the same time, his group of a few allied soldiers, a handful of Spanish explosive experts, and a rag-tag group of around 250 local men and boys, members of the “Maquis,” the French resistance underground, retreated with a group of French hostages they had liberated in the skirmish.

After his death, even the German commander called Lt. Swank the most heroic fighter against incredible odds he had ever seen.

Swank’s body was cared for by local villagers and temporarily buried there before his body was shipped back home to Missouri. But after his body had been interred there, it was discovered, among his papers, that Paul Swank had requested he be buried where he fell.

After machinations and red tape from both the U.S. and France, with the involvement of ambassadors from both countries, the body of the slain hero was returned to southwest France and placed in the tomb, which is revered to this day.

Lt. Paul Swank’s death marked the end of the liberation of the Aude Valley. The next day, the Germans evacuated the region, never to return.

This is the short version of the story, the incredible bravery of just one American who gave it all fighting for what was right. Although few Americans have ever heard of Lt. Paul Swank, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the region where his body lies who does not know of and revere him.

It occurred to me that, as we recently celebrated Memorial Day and have Veterans Day coming up in November, those great wars our grandfathers fought so long ago went on relentlessly day after day year-round under the most difficult of conditions.

I know, at the very least, I’m going to add August 17 to my list of days to honor our military, and you best believe, the next time I’m in the Aude driving down the D118, and I come upon the monument to Lt. Swank, I’m going to stop and pay my respects.

~René Barnett