Alabama soldier featured in new WWII book by ‘Monuments Men' author Robert Edsel

Yahoo

22-04-2025

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Robert Edsel doesn't see himself as an author.
More accurately, the New York Times-bestselling writer whose 2009 book, 'Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History,' was turned into a movie featuring George Clooney and Matt Damon, sees himself as a messenger. The same way 'Monuments Men' was about to telling the overlooked story of American soldiers seeking to take part art stolen by the Nazis across Europe, Edsel is now trying to tell another story often overlooked in recollections of World War II.
'Remember Us: American Sacrifice, Dutch Freedom, and A Forever Promise Forged in World War II,' which will be published by Harper Collins on April 29, tells the story of soldiers stationed in the Netherlands and the way the Dutch people continue to celebrate their service in protecting them during the war.
'If you don't understand the horror and challenges for these people who fought this battle, you can't fully appreciate the remarkable moment of grace the book offers,' Edsel said.
In 'Remember Us,' Edsel tells the story of soldiers who fought to protect the town of Margraten. As the death toll began to rise, many of these Americans were buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery.
One of the soldiers who was responsible for these burials was Sgt. Jeff Wiggins, who grew up in a sharecropping family in Dothan, Alabama at the height of Jim Crow. Following an attack by the Ku Klux Klan at his home, Wiggins sought to leave the racially charged state, lying to the Army so that he join. Saying he was 19 years old, Wiggins was only 16.
Part of the book not only deals with Wiggins' work burying his fellow soldiers, but also the culture shock of the Dutch people on getting to know a Black man for the first time.
'I think Jeff, like other Black soldiers, enjoyed being in Europe because they had never seen a Black human being,' he said. 'There's one moment where children would run up to him and rub his skin because they didn't know if it would come out.'
However, Edsel said Wiggins' time in the Netherlands weighed heavily on him, seeing so much death in the weeks he was there.
'They were going to dig graves until they were told to stop,' he said. 'It was a horrible job and Jeff had many nightmares for years afterward.'
After the war, Wiggins would go back to Dothan, where he would receive his high school diploma. He later taught at Southeast Alabama High School in Dothan and was recalled to duty in 1950. He died in 2013.
However, Edsel said 'Remember Us' is a story about love and how decades after the war ended, those in Margraten still pay their respects to the Americans buried at American Cemetery.
'It's a timeless story of remembrance and love,' he said. 'It underscores the point that everyone, know matter who you are, want to be remembered by somebody.'
With Memorial Day coming up May 26, Edsel is encouraging people to remember those who fought for America by seeking to connect with one another.
'It's important to remember who we are as a country, that sense of connectedness that people are doing all they can to preserve the history of the country,' he said.
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