2 days ago
- General
- Wall Street Journal
Uncle Frank's Dutch Family
Michael Johnson reminds readers that the Dutch beautifully remember the Allies' sacrifice in World War II by adopting gravesites at the Netherlands American Cemetery (Letters, May 28). The wait list for doing so is longer than one year, he notes, 'as most have been adopted and are passed down from one generation to the next.'
The tradition is personal for me. In June 2019, after attending the 75th-anniversary commemorations of D-Day in Normandy, France, I travelled to Margraten to visit my great uncle's grave. I was the first in my family to have seen Frank A. Johnson since he departed for Europe in the autumn of 1944. During my visit I was met by Frank's 'adoptive' family: a wonderful husband and wife, who, having never met me before, drove three hours to join me at the site. They both said that if it 'were not for men like your great uncle Frank, we would probably still be speaking German.'
