American WWII heroes adopted in ‘Faces of Margraten’ project by ‘grateful’ Dutchmen

Younger generations in Europe do not forget the amazing sacrifices of American troops in conflicts abroad.

Ask the people of the Netherlands. Look at Margraten’s faces.

“My relatives and ancestors suffered a lot during World War II and were very grateful for their release,” Sebastiaan Vonk, the 31-year-old Dutch president of Fields of Honor, told Fox News Digital in an interview on Friday.

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“The next generations are also very grateful that these men and women came to fight here in a war that was not necessarily a war they had to fight.”

Vonk founded Faces of Margraten to connect the grateful people of today’s Netherlands with the Americans who fought and died in the effort to liberate their nation (and all of Europe) from Adolf Hitler’s Germany during World War II.

It is a remarkable international effort to adopt and honor 10,000 American soldiers who are buried or commemorated today at the Netherlands American Cemetery in the small community of Margraten.

Dutch families have already “adopted” the 10,000 soldiers. Vonk said there is even “a waiting list of people looking to adopt,” in case another adoptive person or family passes up the opportunity.

Photos of American war heroes wanted

Vonk is now leading an effort to match every name in the cemetery with the face of that American war hero, while expanding the effort to five other American battlefield cemeteries in Europe.

It is seeking adoptive families in Europe for about 42,000 American soldiers and photographs of their families in the United States.

It is an effort, he said, to “humanize” the cost of war and the sacrifices made by the United States.

Sergeant. Paul McErlane of Lowell, Massachusetts, died in Europe while serving on a bomber crew in World War II. He is remembered today at the Netherlands American Cemetery in a tribute to those missing in action. He is one of thousands of Americans honored today (and whose remains were never recovered) at MIA memorials and ABMC cemeteries in Europe. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)

They have 8,651 photographs to date.

Vonk and adoptive families in the Netherlands continue to search for photographs of the other 1,400 American heroes buried in their country.

The photographs, the Faces of Margraten, are placed next to the grave or name of the adopted soldier for five days a year. But the Dutch honor memories of him all year round.

Europeans “are grateful and, speaking for myself, inspired by what these Americans did for us.”

The Netherlands was conquered in 1940 and occupied, often brutally, until the end of World War II in 1945. Some 140,000 American soldiers died in Europe alone during the conflict.

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Dutch adoptive families research the history of their American soldiers. They often connect with and even visit their families in the United States, and tend to their grave in Margraten.

Vonk himself adopted Lawrence F. Shea, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 12, 1923.

Lawrence F. Shea was a Brooklyn sports lover who died in Europe during World War II. He is buried in the American Cemetery in the Netherlands. (Courtesy of the Shea family)

Shea is among 250 soldiers featured in the coffee table book “The Faces of Margraten,” written by Vonk, with Arie-Jan van Hees and Jori Videc, published in English for the first time in November 2022 and available on Amazon and other online bookstores.

“Because his mother died in the 1930s, he…grew up partly in an orphanage,” reports “Faces of Margraten” in its biography of Shea. He says that he “was a regular, sports-loving guy.”

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The “regular” kid from Brooklyn served in the 80th Infantry Division during World War II. He was fighting just across the German border, not far from Margraten, when he was killed by enemy tank artillery on April 2, 1945.

The Faces of Margraten project has been so successful that Vonk and his Fields of Honor Foundation recently expanded the program to five additional U.S. military cemeteries in three other countries.

The Ardennes American Cemetery and Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery are both located in Belgium; the Epinal American Cemetery and the Lorraine American Cemetery are both in France; and the Luxembourg American Cemetery is in Luxembourg.

The people of the Netherlands have adopted the 10,000 American servicemen killed in World War II and buried or commemorated them today at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten. They are looking for photographs for the 10,000 participants of the Faces of Margraten project. (Fields of Honor Foundation/Jean-Pierre Geusens)

Many of the American heroes found in those graves have already been adopted by local individuals or families.

The goal is to ensure that the 42,000 American war heroes commemorated in those cemeteries, killed during the liberation of Europe, find an individual or family to adopt them.

And of course, he hopes to take photos with every soldier at every cemetery.

The goal is to ensure that America’s 42,000 war heroes find a person or family to adopt them.

“The very fact that there is a waiting list to adopt a grave in Margraten and the fact that thousands of other graves have already been adopted in other cemeteries is very revealing of how people in Europe still feel about the American liberators today” Vonk said. .

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“They are grateful and, speaking for myself, inspired by what these Americans did for us.”

Three ways Americans can help

Vonk shared suggestions for Americans looking to help Fields of Honor match grateful European adoptive families with American war heroes.

1. Family members of soldiers are encouraged to see if they may have photographs or documents somewhere in their home.

The Luxembourg American Military Cemetery is the resting place of 5,070 Americans killed in Europe during World War II. Among them is the grave of General George S. Patton. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News)

2. The general public, “our boots on the ground,” Vonk said, is encouraged to look for soldiers in their home state or city.

3. Americans can call, write, and communicate with libraries, high schools, historical societies, veterans’ and family associations.

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“You never know where to find a photo,” Vonk said. “And therefore, in a sense, anyone can help.”

Those interested in the project can learn more at the Campos de Honor Foundation website.

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