MARGRATEN, NETHERLANDS — It measures only 65 acres, but Netherlands American Cemetery is one of the most solemn pieces of real estate in U.S. history.
Row after row of crosses stand at attention inside the cemetery, where thousands of soldiers and airmen from WWII rest.
What separates Margraten from other American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries: each and every grave and name on the Wall of the Missing were adopted by Dutch citizens at close of the war.
“Leave your boys with us. We will watch over them like our own forever. A forever promise,” says Edsel. “These are usually people who had their whole life ahead of them. It reminds us of the things in life of what truly matters.”
Author Robert Edsel says the adoption program was a way of thanking American soldiers for liberating the The Netherlands from five years of tyranny.
“No country has demonstrated a fidelity to the United States and gratitude to the United States at the level that the Dutch have,” says Edsel.
Edsel details the unique adoption program in his new book Remember Us.
“Margraten is for me the field of dreams,” says Edsel.
The best-selling writer who penned Monuments Men, which was turned into a major motion picture, says what unfolded in The Netherlands in 1944 is still carried on generations later.
Ben Savoulkel cares for the grave of U.S. soldier Michael Defabio from Rhode Island who was just 25 when he was killed in April of 1945.
“At the moment I am a third generation adopter. When the grave is in a family mostly it stays in the family,” says Savoulkel. “It is unbelievable what they did for us. They came from another country to liberate us. That is unbelievable.”
Ben decorates Michael’s grave on all of the major holidays, including the soldier’s birthday.
“They gave their lives for us. And it is hard,” says Ben. “They were all young boys. Most of them were in their 20s. It gives me the goosebumps, you know?”
“Ben is a hero. Ben doesn’t have to do that. He is a busy guy,” says author Robert Edsel. “When you see the sense of dedication and this conviction. Because they look at these soldiers out there as my soldier. My airman. My tanker. My boy.”
To connect families of fallen American Soldiers with Dutch Adopters across the Atlantic, Robert Edsel is launching the Forever Promise Project. The Forever Promise Project is a partnership between two nonprofit organizations called the Monuments Men and Women Foundation and the Foundation for Adopting Graves American Cemetery Margraten.
“But those boys belong to the Dutch. They belong to American families. But that’s what our Forever Promise Project is about. To keep people aware that there are people there that want to connect with,” says Edsel.
In just three months Forever Promise has united relatives of more than 400 soldiers with the people looking over their loved one’s grave.
Edsel recently shared his mission at the home of The Netherlands Ambassador in Washington D.C.
“They’re out there. They’re not out there begrudgingly and they’re not out there because of duty. They’re out there because of love. They are out there because of love and gratitude,” says Edsel.
Defense Attaché Air Commodore Erwin van Bel-ewe Beljouw is not surprised his fellow Dutch carry on this tradition because the Americans gave so much to free their home.
“It is very important. Because when they are forgotten, they die for the last time. And we must prevent that with all the means that we have. The people that have adopted those graves want to make sure they look as good as they did in 1944,” says Belijouw.
At Netherlands American Cemetery, the memory of so many soldiers remain in loving hands thanks to a grateful people who now live in freedom.
“Here we are 81 years later and thousands of graves have been watched over without sensation this entire time. What is a promise mean anymore. To the Dutch it means forever,” says Edsel. “You have a moment of transcendent remembrance, gratitude, and grace.”
If you’re a family member of a U.S. Soldier buried at Netherlands American Cemetery and would like to learn more about the Forever Promise Project, click here.
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