My Grandmother, Marie, was a staunch Catholic, and must have lit many candles in church, praying to keep her son safe overseas during the last year of World War II; it was not to be. Harry Jr. died during Operation Varsity, on March 24, 1945, just 6 weeks and 3 days before the Nazi surrender on May 8. A paratrooper captain, he had jumped with his men into Germany, in the vicinity of Wesel, just across the Rhine.
The Wilms family, living in Beek, 20 kilometers from the Netherlands American Cemetery outside Maastricht on the Belgium border, adopted Harry's grave there where he was first buried. The cemetery, the only American military cemetery in the Netherlands, had been created in November 1944 when the American forces pushed into the Netherlands from France and Belgium:
"Unique to the cemetery is the connection with the Dutch people. Since 1945 members of the local community have adopted the grave sites of our fallen. They bring flowers to the cemetery and research the life of the service member as a way to honor their sacrifice."
The Wilms family must have sent this photo taken in 1944 when they contacted Harry's widow Kay about their having adopted Harry's grave:
This map from the brochure for the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial shows the site of the cemetery in relation to the WWII battles; Harry died in the drop over the Rhine near Wesel in the upper right corner of the map:
In early 1949 Harry's body was exhumed and flown home to be reburied at West Point. This photo was mailed to Kay from the Netherlands, in 1949, just prior to his body being moved; the girl, Yvonne, looks like the youngest of the Wilms' daughters:
Harry was given a full military funeral, and buried at West Point on April 15. The funeral service was done by a Protestant minister in accordance with the wishes of Kay: Harry had fallen out of his Catholic faith during his time at West Point.
The Wilms family and Marie stayed in touch. We have a 1951 letter from the family, living at Prins Mauritslaan 22, Beek, Netherlands, 22 km from the cemetery in Margraten. They thanked Marie for the package she had sent, including clothing (probably from my Aunt Pat, Harry's younger sister) that their daughters could use without alteration; the letter notes the hard times in Europe in the post-war rebuilding period:
"We've started our new business just in time as every thing has become so expensive and especially building materials are so dear that we couldn't have afford[ed] it any more now. Sugar, butter, wool and many other materials became so expensive that most people are not able to buy them if they won't get higher wages very soon. Besides taxes are terrible high too. But we must struggle on of course and see if we can make it. Many people do emigrate to the states, Canada, Australia. We had better not do such a thing as I myself don't like it."
In the 1970s, Ron, one of their grandchildren in his late teens, visited the U.S., and stayed with Marie in Wisconsin, my parents in Illinois, and me out in California. In 1979 I visited the Netherlands as part of a 2-month trip to Europe with my bike, and Ron showed me around the country for a week, visiting parents, uncles, brothers, aunts. We have kept in touch sporadically. I hope to visit the Wesel site and Margraten someday, as well as West Point – keeping a candle burning a while longer for Harry.
Sources
“Netherlands American Cemetery | American Battle Monuments Commission.” January 1, 1960. Accessed 30 Mar 2023.
"Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial." Brochure accessed via link at the above site.
“Netherlands American Cemetery.” 2023. In Wikipedia. Accessed 30 Mar 2023.
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