On November 19, 1920, during the struggle for independence, the soldiers of the Lithuanian army repelled the Polish aggression in the Battle of Širvintos and stopped their advance deeper into Lithuania.
In the spring of 1925, a meeting of intelligentsia and society of Širvintos township was convened on the initiative of I. Juodenikis (Juodemsko), the head of the Širvintos border police. A committee for managing the graves of volunteers who died in the independence struggle was established. In 1926, the committee collected about 10,000 litas through donation sheets, part of which was spent on cleaning up five grave sites in the surroundings of Širvintos. For the remaining unused ones - to build a monument in Širvintos. The monument to Lithuanian soldiers was unveiled on August 15, 1927, one of the first in Lithuania. Back then the monument was surrounded by a wooden fence, and during the unveiling ceremony it was surrounded by a long wreath of herbs, which was hung on high poles. Gediminas pillars were woven from grasses with the inscription: "Those who died in battle will live forever." The author of the monument is sculptor Robertas Antinis (senior), a participant in the battle of Giedraičiai-Širvintos. The monument of Lithuanian soldiers created for Širvintos stands in the square near the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel in Širvintos. The sculptor depicted a stumbling mother holding her dying son. The sculpture is mounted on a rectangular pedestal with a cross on the front plane, reliefs of a shield with the Vytis cross and a sword. The monument was demolished in the middle of the 20th century. In 1991, the monument to those who died for the Independence of Lithuania was rebuilt at the expense of the people of Širvintos, the author is Robertas Antinis (junior).
