DALLAS (AP) — June West Brandt has always cherished the memory of her older brother, who was killed in World War II. Her artistic sibling, who had a passion for playing boogie-woogie on the piano, has never been forgotten. Recently, she was overjoyed to learn that he is also remembered by a Dutch couple visiting his memorial at a cemetery in the Netherlands.
“It’s wonderful for me to know that someone is there,” said Brandt, 93, who lives near Houston.
This summer, Brandt was introduced to Lisa and Guido Meijers through a new initiative designed to connect families of those buried or commemorated at the World War II cemetery with the Dutch citizens who have adopted their graves or markers.
This initiative was inspired by Robert Edsel, the author of “The Monuments Men.” His latest book, “Remember Us,” highlights the adoption program at the Netherlands American Cemetery. With support from Edsel’s Monuments Men and Women Foundation, located in Dallas, and the Dutch foundation overseeing these adoptions, the Forever Promise Project was developed, providing a searchable database with names of U.S. service members either buried or remembered at the cemetery.
“I’d like us to find and connect as many American families to their Dutch adopters as is possible,” Edsel said.
Ton Hermes, who chairs the Foundation for Adopting Graves American Cemetery Margraten, mentioned that approximately 8,300 graves and 1,700 markers for the missing have been adopted at the Margraten cemetery. However, only 20% to 30% of adopters are in touch with the families of the service members.
When the Meijers couple adopted the marker for Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. William Durham “W.D.” West Jr., they only had minimal information about him. At 20, West’s body wasn’t recovered after his B-24 bomber was downed over the North Sea on a mission into Nazi Germany.
Through talking with Brandt, they’ve learned that West was “quite a creative soul,” Lisa Meijers said.
“That obviously makes a huge change in how to remember someone,” she said.
Brandt shared that her brother had a talent for painting and played the piano by ear. Despite being six years her senior, they were close companions growing up in the small town of DeRidder, Louisiana.
“We loved being together, so it was very hard when he left,” Brandt said.
Brandt’s daughter, Allison Brandt Woods, said it’s heartwarming knowing Meijerses are watching over the marker. Woods met up with them on a recent trip and hopes the connection between their families will continue with future generations.
The cemetery, Lisa Meijers said, is among many reminders of World War II in the southern Netherlands, which was liberated by Allied forces in September 1944 after over four years of Nazi occupation.
“We just really feel how extremely important it is to remember these things and to honor the sacrifices these people made for us,” she said.
The Meijerses, who have a 1-year-old son, visit West’s marker about once a month, bringing flowers.
Hermes said the program is so popular that there’s a waiting list to adopt a grave or marker.
Names on the walls for the missing were opened up for adoption in 2008, said Frans Roebroeks, secretary for the Dutch adoption foundation. The formal adoption process for graves began to take shape during a 1945 meeting of the Margraten town council.
“They were meeting to figure out the answer to the question: How do you thank your liberators when they are no longer alive to thank?” Edsel said.
Many initial adopters took on the grave of someone they had gotten to know.
“Once they heard their soldier was killed in action, the Dutch people decided to adopt his grave, to bring flowers and to correspond with the wives or mothers in the United States,” Hermes said.
Roebroeks said many of the graves have been cared for by the same family since the end of the war, including one that’s been passed down through his family. He said Army Pfc. Henry Wolf had stayed at his grandfather’s farm and became “like a son” to him.
Wolf’s grave has passed from Roebroeks’ grandfather to his mother and now to his sister, who will pass it to her daughter, he said.
“That grave stays in the family,” he said.
Edsel said that so far, over 300 families have asked to be put in touch with their adopters.
“And we’re just starting,” he said.
