80 years later, Dutch still tend soldiers’ graves
Frank Lennon
Special to the Providence Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
By 1947, some 18,000 American soldiers had been buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten. At the end of World War II, the Dutch shared a simple message: “Leave your boys with us. We will watch over them like our own, forever.” ● They vowed to care for the graves of those who fell while restoring Dutch freedom. In an extraordinary act of gratitude, every single grave had been adopted by local families by Memorial Day 1946.
● The United States repatriated about 10,000 of those remains between 1947 and 1951. About 8,300 graves are remaining, along with 1,700 markers for the missing – 10,000 men, more or less.
● Today, Dutch adopters (and now their children and grandchildren), visit the graves, lay flowers on birthdays and holidays, and learn the soldiers’ stories. ● Of those 10,000, there are 8,411 adopters who still do not know the families of the soldiers they honor. ● With the passage of time, many American descendants are not even aware that a family member is buried at Margraten, and/or that someone has cared for that grave for more than 80 years. ● A group of dedicated volunteers is working hard to change that.
By May 1946, every grave at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten had been adopted by a Dutch family. Today, many are tended by the third or fourth generation of the original adopters.
PETER DEJONG/ANP/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
With the passage of time, many American descendants are not aware that a family member is buried at Margraten or that someone has cared for that grave for more than 80 years.
MARTIJN BEEKMAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES FILE
Forever Promise Project
Robert M. Edsel is the New York Times bestselling author of four nonfiction books, including “Rescuing da Vinci,” “Saving Italy” and “The Monuments Men,” the latter of which served as the basis for Academy Award recipient George Clooney’s 2014 film.
Recognizing this problem, he launched the Forever Promise Project to connect families of fallen Americans with the Dutch grave adopters. His latest book, “Remember Us,” tells the story of this extraordinary Dutch gift to America. Edsel described it as “a remarkable story of remembrance, gratitude, and grace set against the backdrop of the most destructive and deadly war in history.”
Edsel’s counterpart on the Dutch side is Frans Roebroeks, secretary of the Foundation for Adopting Graves at the American Cemetery Margraten. Frans published a history of the cemetery in 2019 in Gen.Magazine, the leading Dutch publication focused on genealogy and family history.
Both works were invaluable in developing this story.
Cemetery history
Margraten is in Limburg, the southernmost tip of the Netherlands, separating Belgium from Germany. American forces liberated the province in September 1944, but at a high cost.
While Allied troops pushed eastward into Germany, thousands of dead soldiers were left along the routes of advance. The Army needed a cemetery as soon as possible.
Capt. Joseph Shomon, commanding officer of the 611th Graves Registration Company, was tasked to find a location. He later described the moment he found about 65 acres in Margraten.
When a local official remarked that it was excellent farmland, Shomon replied, “Even the best ground is not good enough for our dead.”
On a wet Nov. 11, 1944, men of the 611th gathered for the first burial. Cpl. John D. Singer, a 25-year-old North Carolina native, was laid to rest in Section A, Row 1, Grave 1.
Shomon’s unit was made up of White soldiers and officers; their mission was to identify bodies, collect personal effects and generally supervise the burials.
The dirty work was performed by segregated Black units. The men of the 960th and 3136th Quartermaster Service Companies dug the graves.
As Alexis Smith wrote for history.com in August, “Army trucks arrived in droves, filled with bodies, and African American soldiers stood in the freezing mud ready to unload them.”
Alabama native Jefferson Wiggins was the first sergeant of the 960th and the last surviving veteran who buried the dead at Margraten. Before he died in 2013, he said, “So, there we were – a group of Black Americans confronted with all these dead White Americans. … When they were alive, we couldn’t sit in the same room.”
The next chapter
From liberation in September until the final offensives began in February, Limburg became one large military camp. New units trained there while combat-seasoned veterans recharged batteries for the battles to come.
Many local residents invited soldiers into their homes. As a result, a wartime bond developed between the GIs and the Dutch families who “adopted” them.
It was heartbreaking on both sides when the time came to say goodbye.
As casualties mounted early in 1945, residents of the town felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness as they watched trucks delivering the bodies of young Americans – some of whom had recently lived in their homes – to the newly built cemetery.
They wanted to honor the men but didn’t know how. Shomon suggested they decorate all graves with flowers on the upcoming Memorial Day.
The Margraten Citizens Committee was founded that evening – the predecessor of today’s Foundation for Adopting Graves at the American Cemetery Margraten.
Regional newspapers published a call for flowers. Shomon’s trucks collected bouquets throughout South Limburg. On May 31, 1945, not a single grave was flowerless.
Adoption program
The first grave adoptions were informal – by Dutch families who had housed individual soldiers who were later killed. When word came that “their” soldier had fallen, they would immediately go to the cemetery to claim that grave.
The Citizens Committee had a bigger vision: assigning all graves for adoption. Adopters were to visit the grave regularly and send photos to next of kin.
Frans Roebroeks wrote, “The Americans agreed and initially provided home addresses of relatives.”
Clouds on the horizon
By the end of summer 1945, the American officers most supportive of the grave adoption program had rotated home. Their replacements did not have the same emotional connection to the process.
In “Remember Us,” Edsel wrote, “They saw the cemetery as American property … to be safeguarded, not shared.” They discouraged the Dutch from thinking of the cemetery as an open memorial.
They also stopped providing family contact information.
At the same time, however, the need for that contact information grew exponentially. Letters from the United States made it clear that the Dutch adopters could help soften the grief of those who had lost a loved one.
Widow’s letter inspires
In August 1945, Life magazine published a letter from the mayor of Maastricht, the provincial capital, about 8 miles from Margraten. Baron Michiels van Kessenich thanked U.S. soldiers for liberating the Netherlands.
Mabel Rose Feil, a 26-year-old widow from Alabama, responded. Her husband, Pvt. Warren Feil, was buried at Margraten. Touched by the mayor’s words, she made a simple request: “I will be grateful to you all the days of my life if you can get me a snapshot of his grave. … My husband and I were so young and he was my whole life.”
This request caused the Margraten Grave Adoption Program to explode; thousands more Dutch citizens volunteered.
The mayor’s wife, Emilie, was so affected by Mabel Feil’s letter that she took the photograph herself. Deeply moved, Emilie wrote to President Harry S. Truman on Sept. 27, 1945.
“Now that …only your fallen heroes remain in our soil we want to establish a lasting tie between their relatives and our people.
“There is one difficulty to surmount. My urgent request … [how do I] contact someone who has the authority to hand over a registration list [of all those buried here]?
“I am a mother,” she continued, “and if it should happen that my boys were buried in American soil I should be so grateful if an American mother would send me a photograph and should go there sometime in my place.”
Someone in the chain of command prevailed upon the decision makers not to grant that request. Some officials feared adopters might use the information to financially exploit grieving American families.
As Jeff Stoffer wrote in April’s American Legion Magazine, there is not a single known case of exploitation relating to the grave adoption program.
Meanwhile, in Margraten
By Memorial Day 1946, all 18,000 graves had been adopted. Emilie said there were 3,000 more requests than there were graves.
Newspapers across the world reported that 40,000 people had come to Margraten to pay their respects – more than two visitors for every man buried there. The total population of Margraten was about 2,500 people. Even Maastricht only claimed 75,000 residents.
Eight of those graves belonged to Medal of Honor recipients.
Listed in alphabetical order, they are: Lt. Col. Robert G. Cole, San Antonio; Pfc. Richard E. Cowan, Wichita, Kansas (born in Nebraska); Sgt. Archer T. Gammon, Roanoke, Virginia; Pfc. Willy F. James Jr., Kansas City, Missouri; Pvt. George J. Peters, Cranston, Rhode Island; Staff Sgt. George Peterson, Brooklyn, New York; Pfc. Walter C. Wetzel, Utica, Michigan; and 1st Lt. Walter J. Will, West Winfield, New York (born in Pennsylvania).
Repatriation of WWII dead
By war’s end, some 300,000 American soldiers were buried in cemeteries worldwide. Truman told American families they could bring their loved ones home if they desired.
This was often a gut-wrenching decision. About 60% (171,000-plus) of families accepted the offer. Almost 120,000 chose to keep their loved ones where they were – including six of the eight who earned the Medal of Honor. Only Cowan and Gammon were returned.
This repatriation dropped the number of graves at Margraten from about 18,000 in 1945 to the 8,301 there today. That number does not include those on the Wall of the Missing.
Many of those graves are still tended by the third or fourth generation of the original 1945-46 adopters.
In 2017, Frans Roebroeks’ 86-year-old mother Gerda said, “I told my daughter when I pass away, please take care of the grave – and you have to tell your children that they should take over the grave when you die because I want our soldier to stay in the family.”
Peters, the Medal of Honor recipient from Rhode Island, was one of those who stayed in Margraten.
“As a child, I asked my parents why Uncle George was still in Europe,” said his niece, Joan Parenteau. Evidently, his parents had not gotten over his death. A return of a casket and another funeral would have been too much for them to bear.
This desire to avoid reopening old wounds was one of the reasons most often cited by those who did not bring their loved ones back to the United States.
Other families felt their soldier belonged with the men with whom he had fought and died.
Adoption swayed many decisions
Because the Dutch people had already begun adopting graves in 1945 – sending letters and photos of the flowers they placed – many American families realized their sons were not alone.
In early March 1947, Boston University professor Edwin Booth wrote a story entitled “An American Visits the Grave of his Son Overseas.” Booth had taken his family to Margraten.
They gained great comfort from the visit, and their description of Margraten and the adoption program was published worldwide. He encouraged families to leave their sons where they were.
Rosemary and Frederick Leary, readers of the Providence Journal, were the sister and father of Lt. Frederick D. Leary who had been killed Feb. 8, 1945. They received word he had been buried at Margraten.
They sent a letter to the editor, wanting to “express a deep appreciation for you publishing” an article on Margaten.
They had viewed Margraten as a “cold, alien place” until they read Booth’s story. “Today Margaten became real to us. There are farms and fields, nearby, warm winds, well trimmed grass and flowers brought by the Dutch. … [It’s] a peaceful place where a soldier can rest with his comrades.”
Volunteers add links
Since1949, the American Battle Monuments Commission has managed 14 overseas cemeteries dedicated to American dead, including Margraten.
When these cemeteries were first established, they were run by the U.S. Army. When the grave adoption program began at Margraten, the military leaders were sympathetic to the desires of American families to get photos of their loved ones’ graves. On request, they gave Dutch adopters names and addresses of relatives to whom these photos would be sent.
But post-war leadership would stop providing that information.
Before this door closed, about 20% of the adopters were linked with American relatives. Over the decades, Dutch volunteers have added links, one at a time, bringing that number to about 25% – still far short of the 100% goal envisioned.
Also, as original next-of-kin American parents, siblings and spouses died, the knowledge of the burial site was not always passed down to grandchildren or great-grandchildren.
The issue became more complicated with the passage of the U.S. Privacy Act of 1974, which regulates the disclosure of personally identifiable information. Providing addresses of American families to foreign citizens without explicit consent would likely violate these protections.
To this day, the American Battle Monuments Commission continues to withhold next-of-kin information from grave adopters, citing privacy laws and concerns about exploitation of grieving relatives.
Bottom line
As diligent and hardworking as the Forever Promise Project may be, they face an uphill battle if forced to rely only on outreach from American families to them.
One can liken that process to the “Lost Money” programs in virtually every state.
The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators says there are billions of dollars of unclaimed funds or property waiting to be returned to the owner. The passive (or reactive) method of reuniting owners with their property is to advertise to the general public, “You may be entitled to money you don’t know about. Register at this website to find out.”
This goes in one ear and out the other of most people because they don’t think they are owed money – and they can’t be bothered with the hassle. However, in smaller communities, publishing lists of names of those who are actually owed money in local media tends to be highly effective because of the potential for recognition. Neighbors and family members often recognize names on lists and notify the rightful owners.
Putting the names out there produces more responses than waiting for someone to find themselves in a database.
The Forever Promise Project is fully aware of this conundrum, and is seeking ways to become more proactive with their search. They have been forced into a situation where making additional connections depends on the knowledge that a relative is (or may be) buried at Margraten.
If you have a relative who died in Europe during World War II, he may be buried at Margraten, Netherlands. Please connect with the Forever Promise Project. To search the database or learn more, visit foreverpromise.org/the database . For further details or to offer to help, please reach out to info@foreverpromise. org.
The first grave adoptions were informal – by Dutch families who had housed individual soldiers who were later killed. When word came that “their” soldier had fallen, they would go to the cemetery to claim that grave.