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Dutch Honor U.S. Soldiers Killed in WWII
Hundreds of Dutch and Americans gathered at the American Military Cemetery on Sunday to honor U.S. soldiers who died fighting to liberate the Netherlands from Germany in World War II. It was the 60th anniversary memorial service for what the United States' Dutch Ambassador Clifford Sobel called the "red spring and summer" of 1944. The only American cemetery in the Netherlands contains remains of soldiers who were killed in the fighting around Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem, as well as others killed during the allied push toward Berlin and while flying bombing missions before D-Day. The cemetery is located outside the Dutch town of Margraten, about six miles east of Maastricht. It holds the remains of 8,302 allied soldiers from all the U.S. states, as well as England, Canada and Mexico. Forty pairs of brothers are buried side by side. Graves are laid out in long arcs and marked by white marble crosses. In addition, the site contains a "wall of names" listing 1722 men who died in action but whose bodies were never recovered.Dutchman Jozef Mommers, attending the ceremony with his wife and children, laid flowers on the graves of three soldiers. He said he didn't have a personal relationship with them, but had "adopted" them out of gratitude for liberating his home town of Valkenburg when he was a boy. Dutchwoman Jeanne Blom, who lives nearby, said she had been coming to the cemetery for as long as she could remember. "If you're feeling uneasy and stressed, then you can sit here a while and come to peace again," she said. "You remember the things that are important in life." Posted by: Steve White 2004-05-31 |
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