A visit to Margraten
TSpecial to The Herald he American military cemetery of Margraten is located in southern Holland, in the province of Limburg. It is the final resting place for over 8,300 American servicemen who died liberating the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France during the Second World War.
When I was 12, my family was living in Europe and visited Margraten. I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but we arrived later than planned. It was fall, and dusk was setting in. We got out of the car and realized that we were the only ones there.
I recall a curved wall with the names of all the states whose dead lay buried there, a tall tower that was open to the sky, and beyond that, a vast field of white marble crosses, interspersed with the occasional Star of David marking the grave of a Jewish soldier.
The fading light, the long shadows of bare trees in the setting sun, the pale glow of the marble crosses and the absence of any other visitors made an indelible impression on my 12-year-old mind.
The site seemed to command silence and respect, and even though my two brothers and I had been cooped up in our small car for hours, we didn’t engage in the usual horseplay.
All of us separated and chose our path through the rows of graves, stopping occasionally to read a name and inscription.
My mother was especially moved by the graves of 19-year-old boys, killed in action before they had the chance to enjoy much of what life has to offer.
The visit carried special meaning for my parents, who as children endured five years of military occupation in Holland.
Food shortages, fear of deportation of male family members to work in war industries in Germany and the constant presence of armed, hostile soldiers shaped their early lives.
All of that came to an end in the spring of 1945, when Canadian troops fought their way into Holland and brought an end to the fear and suffering, just like their fathers did 27 years earlier as they drove the German Imperial army out of Belgium and northern France.
The 8,300 American graves at Margraten are just a fraction of the 66,000 dead that Canada suffered in the First World War, from a Canadian population far smaller than today’s.
Today, the graves of all the American soldiers buried at Margraten have been adopted by appreciative Dutch families. There is a similar grave adoption program for the Canadian military cemetery in Groesbeek, about one and a half hours by car from Margraten. Every year, Dutch children place flowers on the graves of those who fought and died to make Europe free again.
Cemeteries like Margraten and Groesbeek provide such a rich emotional and visual experience that it is almost impossible to quantify or clarify ones feelings or thoughts. How does one react in the face of such enormities and the sacrifices they demanded?
Writing of a great battle in an earlier war, Abraham Lincoln perhaps said it best: “We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.
“The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”
Dennis Oomen is the manager-curator of the Penticton Museum and Archives