Margraten Netherlands American Cemetery

History

The town of Margraten was liberated by the US 30th Infantry Division on 23 September 1944. Not long after, the US Army request a plot of land from the council to open a temporary cemetery for their war dead. On 10 November 1944, the US 9th Army officially opens the cemetery. The grounds are donated by the Dutch authorities "for eternity".

Shortly after the war the decision was taken to turn Margraten into one of eight Parks where American casualties will be permanently buried. In the years following the end of the war, the 603rd Graves Registration Company is tasked with this mission. The company retrieves the bodies of American, German and other nationalities from field graves all over the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. 17.742 Americans and over 1.000 other nationalities were at one time buried at Margraten. The German casualties were later reburied at IJsselstein German Cemetery. Most other Allied casuatlies were reburied at Nederweert War Cemetery (Commonwealth) and Amersfoort Cemetery.

In the late 1940's the families of the Americans are given the choice of having their loved one reinterred in a cemetery in the US or have them buried at Margraten. Almost 10,000 bodies are reburied in the US in the late 1940's.

Architects Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abott from Boston (Massachusetts) design the current Cemetery in the 1950's. The bronze statue in front of the tower has been designed and crafted by Joseph Kiselewski from New York City, while Clarke, Rapuano and Halleran did the landscaping. The cemetery was dedicated on 7 July 1960.

Today 8.302 men are buried at Margraten and 1722 names are chiseled into the Wall of the Missing.

The Netherlands American Cemetery is open to the public daily from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. except December 25 and January 1. A staff member is on duty in the Visitors’ Building to answer questions and to escort relatives to grave and memorial sites.

How to Get There

GPS Coordinates: N50 49.260 E5 48.223

To reach Margraten by automobile from the north, west or south, travel by highway to Maastricht, then east along the Cadier en Keer/Vaals highway (N278).

If driving from Aachen, follow the Maastricht highway (N278) west for 11 miles (18 km) after crossing the Netherlands border.

Margraten can be reached very easily by bus from the central station in Maastricht. Bus schedules are posted and buses run frequently between Maastricht and Aachen with a stop at Margraten. Ask the bus driver to let you off at the cemetery. There is a marked bus stop.

Relevant websites

American Battlefield Monument Commission webpage on Margraten
Oral History Project Akkers van Margraten - a Oral History Project about the history of the Cemetery (Highly Recommended!)
Foundation Adoption graves Margraten
Municipality of Margraten Webpage on the Cemetery (in Dutch)
Ben Savelkoul's page on Margraten (in Dutch)
Margraten Casualty Database

Books

Crosses in the Wind by Lt Col Joseph James Shomon is a personal account by the commander of the 603rd Graves Registration Company which was stationed at Margraten at the end of the war and which was tasked with recovering the war dead from their field graves all over North West Europe for their reburial at Margraten.

 

 

 

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U.S. servicemen buried at Margraten Netherlands American Cemetery