The Faces of Margraten ~ A Photo Project of World War II American Soldiers

The Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten

Are you looking for an easy yet patriotic genealogy project?

2020 will be the 75^th anniversary of the end of World War II.  There are many projects and events going on in commemoration of this anniversary, but “The Faces of Margraten” was brought to my attention by a young American couple living in Luxembourg.  They had visited the American Cemetery and were moved by this project to collect photographs of all the Americans buried here. 

The people of Europe are remembering their US liberators who are buried in The Netherlands American Cemetery in the town of Margraten.  Below I have the links to the websites for the project to collect the photos of the 7,500 faces of American soldiers. According to the website “Join us in our quest and help to put a face to those who sacrificed their all for our freedom.” They have found photos for over 6,000 soldiers but they are still looking for 4,000 more photographs.  The graves and Walls of the Missing will be decorated with the photos May 2 – 6, 2020. 

I looked up on the website to see what names were still missing photographs.  There is a map of the United States, and you can zoom in to see names in your area, or where your ancestors may have lived during World War II.  I found six names still needing photographs in New Hampshire, all buried at Margraten with the plots and rows given:

     1.       Henry S. Tremblay, Private, Hillsborough County, died 28 December 1944

     2.       William T. Penny, Technician Fourth Class, Rockingham County, died 19 December 1944

     3.       Raymond J. Dionne, Private, Strafford County, died 21 September 1944

     4.       Willam E. Caddick, Jr., Private First Class, Caroll County, died 16 November 1944

     5.       Raymond H. Aremburg, Staff Sargeant, Grafton County, died 29 November 1944

     6.       Joseph J. Theriault, Private, Coos County, died 31 March 1945

There were six names for Maine, five for Vermont, ten for Massachusetts, four for Rhode Island, and seven for Connecticut.  If you live outside of New England, you can easily search this map for a soldier who might have lived near you, or for a relative or ancestor from outside of your area.

The website suggests using newspapers and libraries to find relatives in obituaries or death notices.  There is also a memorial page “Fields of Honor – Database” in English at this link, that lists the 28,000 American soldiers interred at Ardennes, Epinal, Henri-Chappelle, Loraine, Luxembourg, and Margraten: https://www.fieldsofhonor-database.com/index.php/en/

The Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten is over 65 acres.  The Walls of the Missing list 1,722 Americans, and there are graves of 8,291 American soldiers.

For the Truly Curious:

The Faces of Margraten Project:

https://www.thefacesofmargraten.com/index.php/en-US/

Under the Faces of Margraten Project, here is the page to submit a face:

https://www.thefacesofmargraten.com/index.php/en-US/submit-photo/foxcontact

For more information use this email  info@fieldsofhonor-database.com

American Battle Monuments Commission, Netherlands American Cemetery:  https://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries-memorials/europe/netherlands-american-cemetery

Wikipedia:  Netherlands American Cemetery:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_American_Cemetery

Thank you to Samantha Furbush Traskiewicz for bringing this project to my attention.

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Faces of Margraten ~ A Photo Project of World War II American Soldiers", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 13, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-faces-of-margraten-photo-project-of.html: accessed [access date]).