Relation with Lake (class): Lake Casualty Cemetery (LCC)
Total nr. of casualties buried here (TC): 18.0000 end WW2. Today 8195.
Lake casualties, initially, end WW2 (LC-I): 0
Unknown today:106
of which unknown from Lake (LC-U): 5?
of which unknown from North Sea (NS-U): 15?
Initial burial site in WW2: yes (OT).
Post war burial site for collection and reburial from other sites: yes
Cemetery with Lake casualties today: yes (LCE).
NETHERLANDS AMERICAN (WAR) CEMETERY - MARGRATEN
Battlefield cemetery in WW2. After the war selected to become centralization-cemetery for American war dead in the Netherlands. 82nd and 101st Airborne cemeteries near Eindhoven, Grave and Nijmegen were cleared and moved to here. Also USAAF airmen found on the civilian cemeteries of a hundred Dutch towns and villages were exhumed and reburied here 1945-1947. In the first registration sweep in July 1945, identified USAAF airmen (with their name on the grave marker), were usually brought to Margraten, but also to Ardennes cemetery (Neuville-en-Condroz, Belgium). In the second round (a few months later), every not identified Allied airman was exhumed and examined for nationality (clothing & gear). Unknown Americans were usually transported to Ardennes cemetery, where the Central US Identification Point was. They were reburied there after identification was successful or not. Also a few reports exist of airmen transported from Holland to Henri-Chapelle, Luxembourg and Lorraine. See more info futher below.
Dutch name cemetery: Margraten USA oorlogs begr. pl.
Full name: Netherlands American Cemetery
Address (usable for car navigation):
Postal code: 6269 NA Margaten (Cadier en Keer), NL.
For reaction or comments; send us an email,
see address and info at CONTACT.
Please use as subject title: 'Margraten'.
Above picture shows Margraten-tower. The red dots on the map are top-down: American cemeteries Margraten, Henri Chapelle, Ardennes (left), Luxembourg & Lorraine.
With the information we have today, it is possible in nearby future to present a shortlist with names for each airman buried as Unknown in Margraten, provided he is brought over to Margraten from the Dutch North Sea coast or Zuyder Sea region and the specific Dutch town or village of initial burial is known.
Image below: Margraten view from the tower to the flagpole.
Before the repatriation-progam (1950) to bring back American war dead to the United States on request of their family, Margraten cemetery was much larger. Number of plots was double and the cemetery looked completely different. Crosses were wood. It was restructured after the program. Below photo is from 1960 and shows today's lay-out.
Operations map.
Part of the ABMC Brochure on Margraten.
The other (2nd) & even more important AIRWAR cemetery is: ARDENNES AMERICAN CEMETERY, Neupré (Neuville-en-Condroz). Belgium. South west of Liege.
Henri-Chapelle, Luxembourg and Lorraine Cemetery are sporadically mentioned as cemeteries where USAAF airmen from Holland were reburied 1945 - 1947.
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Sources:
- Website ABMC
© ZZairwar (Zuyder Zee Air War).
Margraten August 07, 2016:
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File 916. Margraten USA Netherlands War Cemetery
- Details