Thank You America!, War memorial in Plzeň, Czech Republic

Thank You America! is a memorial at the U Práce intersection in Plzeň, formed by two granite pylons 6.65 meters tall and weighing 22 tons each, with a square base of 110 centimeters per side. The left pylon bears the emblem of the U.S. 16th Armored Division and an English inscription; the right pylon has the Czech lion and a Czech inscription. A white five-pointed star set into the pavement holds a circular bronze plate with a relief map of Europe showing the American advance.

A design by sculptor Oskar Kozák won a 1946 competition, and his foundation stone was laid that year, but the communist takeover of 1948 stopped construction and erased the American liberation from textbooks. After 1989 the project resumed: Václav Havel and ambassador Shirley Temple-Black attended the 1990 foundation-stone ceremony. A 1993 competition, won by Vladimír Preclík, met public resistance, so the final form came from a city workshop; the memorial was unveiled on 6 May 1995.

The site becomes a gathering place during the Liberation Festival in May, where Czech citizens, American veterans, and diplomatic officials meet to honor the shared past. These annual meetings show how the bond between the two nations remains alive in people's lives today.

The memorial is located at Americká 818/2 on a busy street corner, making it easy to reach and notice while walking through the city. The inscriptions are readable in both Czech and English, allowing visitors to understand the message without needing additional information.

The granite for the pylons came from the Řásná quarry near Mrákotín, but it proved faulty: cracks appeared and by 2016 the upper sections could not be guaranteed safe. The damaged pylons were replaced with granite from the Carrières Plo quarry in Saint-Salvy-de-la-Balme, southern France, and the memorial was unveiled again in May 2018.