Memorial Day in the Netherlands

Peter with photo of Sgt. William Dukeman of Easy Company

Dead Soldiers are never alone;
Always their faithful Comrades stay beside them.

(Rough translation taken from a German burial site.)

This weekend we will hear about how we’ve lost the true meaning of Memorial Day. At times like these, it’s comforting to hear about those who haven’t. I wrote this during a recent visit to Europe and share it now again with friends on this Memorial Day weekend.

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Netherlanders are legendary for the protection and appreciation of the memory of their liberators. Particularly noteworthy is the nation's attention to the graves of those who died on their soil. Every one of the 8,600 buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial has been adopted by a family. They eagerly learn about the man and communicate with his survivors, maintaining this connection and memory in perpetuity.

This Memorial Day, as in every Memorial Day, while Americans are enjoying their barbecues, 10,000 to 20,000 Dutch people will gather among the 8,600 American graves for services and music, mostly Mozart, to remember the sacrifices of their liberators. Families without a grave to adopt are allowed to adopt a name from the Missing In Action wall.

Yesterday we traveled to the location at the dike where Sgt. William Dukeman of Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Regiment fell during the ambush of two companies of Germans. Fifty Germans were killed, and 100 taken prisoner. Dukeman was the only death suffered by Easy.

Today we met Peter Schroyen, 48, at the American Cemetery, a beautiful expanse in the Dutch countryside near Maastricht. When Peter heard it said that Dukeman's death was "worth it" in the episode of The Band of Brothers depicting this event, he resolved to learn more of this one man lost. He resolved to adopt his grave, but learned it had been taken by the same family since 1945. But last year its last adoptive care taker died and Peter immediately petitioned and won the right to adopt Dukeman's grave and family. "I was very lucky," he told us, "there is a waiting list and usually you have to take whomever they give you."
Today he took us to see his adopted grave, telling us in amazing detail all about William Dukeman. He knows about William's family problems growing up, how the Army was his way out of a difficult home situation.

More than that, Peter has met his relatives, traveled to Denver to see them and learn more. He has hosted family descendants at the cemetery in a flag refolding ceremony.

On many weekends, Peter drives out to the cemetery. He can spot Americans by their shoes and he approaches them to represent the appreciation his country has for the many sacrifices made.

Thank you, for what you do, we said to him. "No," he contradicted. "It is so little that we do, so much that you gave." His hometown is very near the German border and it was occupied immediately at the start of the war. "What could we do, we had weapons from World War I. We waited so long for liberation."

Peter is a most remarkable man, but in the Netherlands, he is not unusual.