In June 1944, Colonel Guy de La Vasselais, former head of the French military mission for tactical liaison with the XX Corps of the U.S. III Army, conceived the idea of creating a grandiose memorial to the Liberation of France. Returning from a trip to the United States with the mayor of Metz, they decided to commemorate the advance of the Allied armies by creating a "Freedom Way". To do so, they chose one of the most glorious routes: the triumphal course of Patton's Third American Army, from the Normandy landings, its breakthrough in the Cotentin region and its famous historic ride from Normandy to Metz in 54 days. It is symbolized by milestones marking every kilometer of the victorious army's route.
In March 1946, the Belgian-American Association proposed to the French that the route be extended to Bastogne. On August 25, 1946, the first (provisional) milestone was inaugurated in the presence of leading French and foreign military and political figures, at Saint-Symphorien in the Eure-et-Loir region, in the commune of Auneau-Bleury-Saint-Symphorien, where Guy de la Vasselais was originally from. The commune lies halfway between the two ends of this prestigious route.
In the months that followed, the towns and villages along the route laid official milestones. On July 5, 1947, the terminal marker in Bastogne was officially installed. On September 16 of the same year, it was the turn of the original milestone at Sainte-Mère-Église. The route was inaugurated in Fontainebleau on September 18, 1947. In the same year, the French postal service issued a stamp with a face value of 6 francs, plus a surcharge of 4 francs, in aid of the Comité Voie de la Liberté.
The sculptor François Cogné designed the milestone. Originally, the bollard was made of pink cement, around 1 metre high, but many of the original bollards along France's main roads were replaced by lightweight copies, less dangerous in the event of a road accident. A few original models have survived, notably at Champillon (Marne), Frisange (Grand Duchy of Luxembourg - no number), and all the bollards along the N4 trunk road in Belgium, from the Luxembourg border at Rosenberg to Bastogne. The bollards depict a flame, symbolizing freedom, emerging from the waves, symbolizing the arrival of the liberating troops by sea. The flame is reminiscent of the torch on the Statue of Liberty in New York.
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