Being a native from the most southern part of the Netherlands, the province of Limburg, I will dedicate some of my writing to the hotspots my region has to offer. My hometown is a part of the Parkstad community, which won the best travel destination in the world competition in 2016. There is a lot of nature in the southern part of the province. Popular for hiking, cycling, water recreation, history, shopping and caves. The green part of the Netherlands is truly a beautiful surrounding, and I want to share with you why it is!
In this first episode I will write about the Dutch – American cemetery and memorial in Margraten. How it looks like? See this video! (not made by me, but it gives a cool view so you can see how big it actually is, there it has been shot with a drone)
The Netherlands American cemetery and memorial in Margraten, the Netherlands is an American militairy cemetery in the southern part of the Netherlands, in the province of Limburg. It is a memorial to the fallen soldiers in the region during World War II.
The cemetery was established during the war, in 1944. During the allied attacks on the occupied mainland of Europe the allied forces lost a lot of men. The army did not want to burry their men on enemy grounds, thus they landed in Margraten.
After the end of the war a lot of fallen soldiers on German soil were burried in Margraten, making the graves get up to 18.000. At the end of 1948 the fallen soldiers were dug up out of their graves and the bodies prepared to be burried in the USA. Almost 1.000 men were deported, For 8.301 fallen soldiers Margraten would stay their resting place.
The graves are burried in waves and not straight with white marmer crosses, making an impressive sight.
Every year the fallen heroes will be remembered, which is always on every sunday before memorial day (last monday of May).
The cemetery is 26,5 hectare big. If you enter you will see a tower. Before the tower there is a statue of a mourning woman. The statue is surrounded by the ‘walls of the missing’, stating the names of 1.722 missing Americans who gave their lives. The names of these missing Americans who were later found have a rosette (rose) added to their name. Behind the tower is the actual cemetery with the last resting place of the 8.301 men. The whole sight is maintained daily, giving it a decent and clean overlook in this peaceful place.
The cemetery is opened for the public daily between 09.00 AM and 17.00 PM. On the 25th of december and the 1st of january the cemetery is closed for public.
