75th Memorial Day celebration in Margraten
In the picture U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands H.E. Mr. Pete Hoekstra.
By Guido Lanfranchi.
This year, the Netherlands and the United States jointly celebrated the 75th Memorial Day to honor the sacrifices of American service members in World War II. The ceremony was held in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, featuring the presence of top-level U.S. and Dutch guests.
Margraten, a village of the Dutch province of Limburg, has a special significance for U.S.-Dutch relations: the village hosts the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, where over 8,000 American servicemen are buried. The graves in Margraten’s cemetery are home to the bodies of the many young Americans who fought and died in the Netherlands, and more specifically in the southern part of Limburg province, which was liberated by U.S. troops in 1944.
In order to honor the U.S. servicemen who gave their life, Dutch and U.S. authorities celebrate every year at the end of May the so-called Memorial Day. This year’s ceremony, hosted as usual in the Margraten cemetery, featured the presence of top-level guests from both sides, including Dutch Foreign Minister Mr. Stef Blok, U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands H.E. Mr. Pete Hoekstra, U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Mr. Shawn Crowley, and Limburg Province’s governor Mr. Theo Bovens.
Speaking on behalf of U.S. citizens, Ambassador Hoekstra paid tribute to “the young Americans from every one of our 50 states” who left their homes to fight in Europe. “They died in a world at war, but they did not die in vain” Rather, he said, they did so for the idea that “freedom is a value that must be preciously guarded and fiercely defended”. The U.S. representatives at the ceremony also had special words of thanks for the thousands of Dutch families who decided to take care of the graves in Margraten – with DCM Crowley praising “the dedication and the devotion that so many Dutch citizens show to keeping alive the memories of the Americans memorialized in Margraten”.
Stressing the role of Margraten’s cemetery in strengthening U.S.-Dutch relations, Mr. Blok decided to introduce his speech by telling the story of two 10-year-old pen-pals, Ileen from the Netherlands and Stella from the United States. The families of these two young girls are united through a 75-year-old story. During World War II, Stella’s great-great uncle, 21-year-old Calvin Bjornsgaard, left the U.S. to fight Hitler in Europe. After Calvin’s death in combat in 1943, Ileen’s family adopted Calvin’s grave – a duty which has been passed on and that has fostered a deep bond between the two families over five generations. This story is representative of the strong bond between the Netherlands and the U.S. – Mr. Blok highlighted, while also pledging that “we will continue to invest in this crucial bond”.
Seventy-five years after the first ceremony in Margraten in May 1945, members of the armed forces, veterans and their families, politicians, and citizens, from both the Netherlands and the United States, gathered once more to pay tribute to the sacrifice of U.S. servicemen. As Minister Blok put it: “peace can never be taken for granted”.
