Municipality of Eijsden-Margraten supports The Faces of Margraten
The municipality of Eijsden-Margraten supports The Faces of Margraten project. The local administration has granted the project funding in support of efforts to give a face to as many of the 10,023 American World War II soldiers buried or memorialized in the town of Margraten, the Netherlands as possible. This effort will be made in a period in which the Netherlands celebrates and commemorates the 70th anniversary of its liberation. "We are very grateful for the municipality's support," says chairman Sebastiaan Vonk of the Foundation United Adopters American War Graves. "It brings us closer to a successful realization of this project."
As a result of this support, The Faces of Margraten project will be part of the local liberation program, titled Liberation Eijsden-Margraten. This project, which is funded by the municipality of Eijsden-Margraten and the Province of Limburgers, consists of various initiatives by citizens, each commemorating and celebrating the liberation in September 1944 in its own way. The program will run from September 12, 2014 until May 24, 2015.
Mayor Dieudonné Akkermans of Eijsden-Margraten: "I want people to relive the liberation, to feel history, and to discover their roots. I want them to tell the story of the liberation to the next generations. Not only today, but also in the future!"
The Faces of Margraten projects aims to give a face to as many of the American soldiers buried or memorialized at the Margraten Cemetery as possibile, by decorating their graves or names on the Walls of the Missing with a personal photo. It will soon be announced in which weekend the photos will be placed. We kindly ask everyone who has a personal photo of a soldier buried or memorialized in Margraten to submit this photo through the website www.thefacesofmargraten.com to contribute to this unique tribute in this way.
The project The Faces of Margraten is initiated by the Stichting Verenigde Adoptanten Amerikaanse Oorlogsgraven, a Dutch non-profit organization that consists of the Dutch and Belgian adopters of American war graves at American War Cemeteries in the Netherlands and Belgium. In particular, the foundation conducts research to the men and women buried there. The foundation does, however, not maintain any of the "Adopt-A-Grave" programs that exist for various overseas American cemeteries. In case of the Margraten Cemetery, this program is maintained by the Stichting Adoptie Graven Amerikaanse Begraafplaats Margraten (Foundation Adoption Graves American Cemetery Margraten).
