Three generations of a Dutch family have
been caring for the graves of ‘adopted’
American soldiers for 80 years
New York Post,
by
Isabel Vincent
Original Article
Posted By: ConservativeYankee,
11/11/2025 12:13:20 PM
Three generations of a Dutch family have been the caretakers of an American soldier’s grave since 1945 — and promise future descendants will do the same.
Ernest Francis Fichtl Jr., from the Little Neck neighborhood of Queens, was killed during one of World War II’s bloodiest European battles and is buried at Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten.
But until recently, his family back in New York did not know that his grave site is lovingly tended to by his adopted family in the Netherlands. And it’s not the only one. Since the end of the war in Europe in 1945, Margraten residents have honored the sacrifice of
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Reply 1 - Posted by:
Bur Oak 11/11/2025 12:32:45 PM (No. 2028593)
There is a cemetery for German and Italian prisoners of war that died while detained at old Ft. El Reno in Oklahoma. You will find the graves cared for and some with decorations.
24 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
DVC 11/11/2025 1:06:53 PM (No. 2028604)
May God Bless their good hearts.
47 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
JunkYardDog 11/11/2025 1:28:46 PM (No. 2028608)
I don't cry often, but tears were streaming down my face when I read this beautiful story. Its beautiful that these people, generations after WW II, still cared for the memory of a foreign soldier who fought and died so they could be free, but sad also as I see how little our young think or care about the sacrifices made so they could be free..to pursue transideology, to be so selfish and out of touch with reality. To not know the difference between freedom and socialism. And in many parts of our country, to feel like a STRANGER. Thank the Left and the Dems FOR ALL OF THAT.
38 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
walcb 11/11/2025 2:12:31 PM (No. 2028621)
My wife's uncle died in WW2 and is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, Margraten, Eijsden-Margraten. Last year there was a request for a picture of her uncle by the family who cares for his grave. His mother to her dying days never believed that he was dead and she died before knowing that people were caring for his grave.
29 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
walcb 11/11/2025 2:17:07 PM (No. 2028622)
https://www.foreverpromise.org/the-cemetery
19 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 11/11/2025 2:32:34 PM (No. 2028627)
FTA - "Cindy Schulteis-Janssen is the third generation of her family who has adopted graves of American servicemen — including Fichtl and Maroy Dietzsch of Wisconsin — who were killed fighting to liberate the Netherlands during the Second World War."
and, FTA - "Cindy Schulteis-Janssen kneeling next to Ernest F. Fichtl Jr.'s gravestone at Margraten Cemetery."
At this household, we feel very humbled after reading this story. Dutch families, we thank you for your unswerving care for these Americans in their afterlives. What else can I as an American from the land of the free, say.
Our close Dutch friends who live in Voorschoten are prime examples of wholesome Dutch values.
25 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
privateer 11/11/2025 2:43:59 PM (No. 2028630)
Thanks for that link. And thanks OP for this bittersweet, but ultimately heartwarming story. I can just picture the Mother telling her daughter---who could never have know their 'adopted' son---please continue what we have started. Do this, and not just for the young man who gave everything that we might live again in freedom. Do this for me, to carry on our cherished debt of honor and gratitude...when I no longer can.
19 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
red1066 11/11/2025 2:59:35 PM (No. 2028635)
Meanwhile in Alaska, the largest school system has just put out a disclaimer stating that the Declaration of Independance and the Constitution does not reflect the line of thinking for the school district.
14 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 11/11/2025 3:45:56 PM (No. 2028648)
Heart warming story. It's mentioned only in passing that the Netherlands was not liberated until May 1945. They endured German occupation for nearly 5 full years.
11 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
thefield 11/11/2025 4:22:54 PM (No. 2028665)
Even though I am not military, Saaaalllluuute!
7 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
JSanders 11/11/2025 5:09:08 PM (No. 2028681)
One of my fondest memories of being in the Army happened in the Netherlands. My boss and I got to march in a local town parade honoring the soldiers who liberated that town. Every year, the townspeople would pay to fly the soldiers and their wives over from the states, put them up in local homes and plan a week of celebration culminating in the parade. It was so heartening seeing young children being held up by their parents as they explained to them who these old men were. The whole town turned out and I was never more proud to be representing my great country.
23 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
MickTurn 11/11/2025 6:56:01 PM (No. 2028712)
They all know how important and REAL the soldiers sacrifice was. As a Viet Nam Veteran, I can appreciate their dedication.
17 people like this.
God bless this Dutch family. Maybe there are some decent people left in this world.
16 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
bighambone 11/12/2025 9:17:17 AM (No. 2028862)
The Dutch do the same at the British and Canadian military cemeteries in the Netherlands. The Dutch are especially close to Canadian military that liberated the Northern part of the Netherlands in 1944-45. There are videos on YouTube.com of ceremonies that are held at what is called the Airborne Cemetery outside of the city of Arnhem where the so-called “Bridge too Far” battle was fought. There are both British and Polish paratroopers buried in that cemetery and the graves are tended by Dutch families including school age children. There is also a huge German military cemetery that has about thirty thousand graves in it, that is out in the Dutch countryside that has tree lines and woods all around the perimeter, in which German families can visit,
6 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
slsusnr 11/12/2025 11:47:29 AM (No. 2028922)
Excellent book: Remember Us, by Robert M. Edsel. Very hard to put down.
1 person likes this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Geoman 11/12/2025 11:50:25 AM (No. 2028924)
For me, this isquite personal. My dad was a naval aviator in the Pacific Theater for the duration of WWII but his two older twin brothers were in the US army in Europe. They couldn't serve in the same unit, so one of my uncles went Army Air Corps and in 1943, was a B-17 crew chief with the 335th Bombardment Squadron 95th Bombardment Group (Heavy), based in England. On a large daylight bombing mission in July, 1943, over Hannover, Germany, their B-17 lost both port side engines due to heavy flack around the target area but the pilot maintained control of the aircraft, turning northwest trying to make the North Sea to ditch near allied naval ships in the hopes of being picked up and transported back to England. While over Southern Denmark, the German fighters, swarmed to pick off stragglers, caught up with them and shot them down, crashing into danish farmland. The bodies were buried nearby by the Danish farmers, later to be exhumed and transferred to the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten. For 70 years there was no word of the disposition of the crew's remains. My grandmother died in 1970, while my dad was serving in the USAF over Vietnam, without knowing her first-born's body had been recovered to be laid to rest along with his crew-mates in the Netherlands. Through the persistence of my older cousin, and the kindness of some European researchers, the crew's remains were tracked down by others tracing the markings and serial numbers of the pieces of the downed B-17. My father passed away several years ago, finally knowing where his missing brother was laid to rest. God bless them all.
7 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 11/12/2025 1:38:55 PM (No. 2028973)
Here come the tears. What a wonderful and beautiful tribute to our fallen. Since being a Girl Scout while growing up and since my son was in Cub Scouts in his youth, veterans graves have been honored. If those boys in their Cub Scouts uniforms knew why they had to wear a full uniform to the Nashville National Cemetery only to place poppies or little flags--they are now in their 50's--now they know. If any of them served in the military, they appreciate having done that act.
See outside
Nashville National Cemetery
3 people like this.
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