They Remember: Memorial Day, Margraten, Netherlands

Irma Haex | May 28, 2007 | David Allender

[RedRover]

I received an e-mail today from Mrs. Irma Haex of Holland. She and her teenage son, Wesley, have adopted the graves of four Americans buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten.

Irma writes...

We do this out of respect for the men who paid the ultimate price for our freedom, it is 62 years ago that the war ended, but most of the Dutch people won’t forget.

I thought people here might enjoy knowing that there people like Irma and Wesley Haex, tending the graves of our fallen overseas.

_______________________________

Irma Haex at the grave of Sergeant Robert E. Grame, 333rd Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division (Sgt. Grame entered the service from California. Died: November 23, 1944)

Wesley Haex at the grave of Lt. Col. Robert G. Cole, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Lt. Col. Cole entered the service from Texas. Died: November 13, 1944. Awards: Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, French Croix de Guerre with Palm)

From today’s ceremony at the Netherlands American Cemetery

Each for his own memorial
Earned praise that will never die
And with it
The grandest of all sepulchres
His mortal bones are laid
But a home
In the minds of men.

[Army Air Corps]

Yes it is. Subhuman slime desecrate graves in Washington state with Swastikas, and a Dutch woman and her son lovingly tend to the graves of men who died long ago fighting to liberate their soil from the boot heel of fascism.

[RedRover]

I sent Mrs. Haex a link to this thread. She said she’s having computer problems so she and her son may not see it for a few days. But I know they’ll see your post.

[RedRover]

My pleasure. Good people walk this earth. God bless them all.

[RedRover]

Most people know about Normandy and the Bulge, but, as you know, there was a lot of hard fighting in between on the Siegfried Line.

Sergeant Robert E. Grame, of the 84th Infantry Division, was killed in Operation Clipper, in an attempt to drive the Germans out of Muellendorf and Wuerm.

Here's a description, lifted shamelessly from the official history:

On November 21st, a heavy rain began to fall that turned the soil of of the Wurm valley into a quagmire. The road from Sueggerath toward Muellendorf and Wuerm was mined, so the soldiers of the 333rd had to wade through the mud of the beet and cabbage fields. German pillboxes could fire upon the American infantry with great effect.

On November 22nd, tanks made it forward and helped eliminate the pillboxes, some 500 yards away from Muellendorf. But the Americans still faced the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division and progress was painfully slow.

The movement forward (toward Muellendorf and Beck) was halted on November 23rd (the day Sgt. Grame was killed) and the regiment went on the defensive.

In clearing the Geilenkirchen salient, the 84th Division incurred 2,000 battle casualties, including 169 killed and 752 missing.

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Thank you for posting this.

[RedRover]

You’re welcome. I was so pleased to get Mrs Haex’s e-mail, I had to share her message and her photos.

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It made me feel so good knowing that our soldiers are not forgotten on foreign shores. Especially on this, their day.

God bless this wonderful woman and her fantastic son.

[Nailbiter]

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