Orange County Veterans Memorial Day to unveil new POW-MIA monument

During the Battle of the Hindenburg Line in World War I on September 29, 1918, forty Orange County residents lost their lives.

On Friday, September 27, 2024 at 10am, the Orange County Veterans Service Agency will honor those residents in a special ceremony that will include the unveiling of a new monument to honor POW-MIA.

"Each year in late September we are reminded of the enormous sacrifices made by Orange County veterans serving their country,” said VSA Director Christian Farrell. “It's up to us to always remember the 40 soldiers we lost on that day: September 29, 1918. This year our ceremony will include a walk over to a beautiful, new monument on the grounds of the Orange County Veterans Memorial Cemetery that pays respect to so many others who never made it home." 

The 40 Orange County residents served in Companies E and L of the 107th Regiment of the 27th Division and perished during the Battle of the Hindenburg Line in Northern France, according to a press release from OC Executive Steve Neuhaus.

“On September 29, 1918, after an intense 56-hour attack, Allied forces breached the Hindenburg Line, the last line of German defenses on the Western Front during World War I. The Hindenburg Line was a heavily fortified zone running several miles behind the active front between the north coast of France and Belgium. By September 1918, the Hindenburg Line consisted of six defensive lines approximately 6,000 yards deep, equipped with lengths of barbed wire, concrete emplacements, and firing positions.” 

“Breaking through the Hindenburg Line helped the U.S. and its allies win World War I, which ended on November 11th, 1918.”