80 years ago, soldiers from Texas known as the ‘Tough Hombres’ arrived in the town of Périers during the Battle of Normandy in northwest France. This week, this small town of two thousand residents will honor their liberators from the U.S. Army’s 90th Infantry Division with several memorial events.

A focal point of the tribute is a bronze statue that stands in the city center, called ‘The Four Braves.’ It was dedicated outside the town hall in 2000, according to the group American War Memorials Overseas.

One of the soldiers depicted in the monument is Pvt. Andrew Speese III, a native of Philadelphia, who underwent his basic training at Camp Fannin, outside Tyler, between October 1943 and March 1944.

According to Camp Fannin records, Speese, who was 32 at the time, was killed in Plessis-Lastelle, France on July 7, 1944 during the Operation Cobra offensive of the Battle of Normandy.

“(He) was a part of the formidable “Battle of the Hedgerows” in the earliest days following D-Day. He died of a penetrating head wound and traumatic amputation of an arm caused by artillery shell fragments.”

Weeks earlier, he landed at Utah Beach on June 6th, D-Day, before Company K, 357th Infantry Regiment moved inland, according to the Chester County Department of Veterans Affairs.

On Saturday, June 8, Périers is planning a ceremony that will pay tribute to the 127 civilian victims of the city’s bombings in 1944, followed by a parade, led by a wind ensemble, to ‘The Four Braves’ monument.

Speese, who was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart, is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer.