What happened here
On 20 October 2023 his family said farewell in the chapel of the Tuskulėnai Peace Park, and the coffin was then taken to the Church of St Johns at Vilnius University. Soldiers of the engineering battalion and members of the Riflemen’s Union stood guard of honour. Mass was celebrated by Bishop A. Poniškaitis and his grandson Fr Gintaras Vitkus SJ.
On 21 October Mass was led by Kęstutis Kėvalas, Metropolitan Archbishop of Kaunas. The procession went to the burial section for soldiers of the Lithuanian Armed Forces at Antakalnis Cemetery. Three volleys were fired, the anthem was sung, and the folded flag was handed to his son Rimgaudas Vitkus. Flags on state buildings were lowered to half-mast.
“May the Lithuanian soil you watered with your blood rest lightly on you.”
A. Ramanauskas-Vanagas, “Partizanas” No. 2, 1949
What you will see
- The grave is in the burial section for soldiers of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, near the grave of A. Ramanauskas-Vanagas.
The underground: “Kęstutis”, the LLA underground war school.
02 · 1920–1948Kaunas, PanemunėThe War School, the engineering battalion and the family home in Panemunė.
11 · 1946 07 / 2022 10 20Leipalingis, Dzūkų g. 15The yard of the “stribynas”, where his remains were found in 2022.
Sources (in Lithuanian): V. Vitkus, “Pulkininkas Kazimieraitis”, 2nd ed., Kaunas, 2017, p. 180; fact base (funeral programme, 2023). Virtual exhibition “J. Vitkus-Kazimieraitis” (virtualios-parodos.lt). The map is schematic; we will confirm exact coordinates and routes with the museum.