Last year I posted about the overseas military cemeteries administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Of course, one aspect of administering a cemetery is the physical maintenance of the grounds, the graves, and their markers. Another is ensuring that each person who is buried continues to have somebody keeping their name in memory.
We, as Americans, are not alone in doing this work for our fallen.
Consider the Netherlands American Cemetery in the village of Margraten in the Netherlands. It contains the graves of 8,288 soldiers who perished in the liberation of the Netherlands and other parts of Europe during World War II. Every last grave has been adopted by a Dutch family — under a system that does not permit someone to adopt more than two graves.
To quote the history of the Stichting Adoptie Graven Amerikaanse Begraafplaats Margraten (the Foundation for Adopting Graves American Cemetery Margraten):
The original idea to adopt graves of the American liberators came up in February of 1945. To this effect the “Burger Comité Margraten” (Citizens Committee Margraten) was formed. The committee’s goal was to support the set-up of the American Cemetery with an extensive adoption campaign. The adopters were supposed to regularly visit the adopted grave and, in case this was appreciated, keep in touch with the next of kin in the U.S.
The campaign gained massive support. At the first Memorial Day in 1945 every grave was decorated with flowers. At the second Memorial Day one year later all graves (at the time an incredible amount of 18,764) had been adopted. Captain Shomon, the founder of the American Cemetery, praised the members of the committee for all the work they had done.
The Dutch have not forgotten the sacrifice our soldiers made. May we continue to remember as well — as well as remember that we are at our best when we look outside our borders and remember that friendship and peace are possible.
