MEMORIAL DAY REMARKS
MARGRATEN, THE NETHERLANDS
27 MAY 12
My name is Hertling, and I am a Soldier.
Right now, there are dignitaries -- generals, ambassadors, statesmen, politicians -- traveling to various battlefields throughout the United States and throughout Europe, and all are speaking about those who sacrificed.
But for Sue -- my wife -- and me, the field here at Margraten will forever symbolize how to best remember our heroes.
Because we will always remember our visit here, last Christmas Eve.
You see, we had been invited to attend the Christmas Eve mass at the De Schark Cave. A place very close to here.
Many of you know of it and have been touched by its story.
For those who don't know the story of the cave, during the bloody winter of 1944, when bitter cold denied respite from the gruesome fighting, and when bombs fell like an incessant rain on friends and foes alike, young men -- civilians and soldiers -- gathered in the cave to celebrate Christmas Eve.
Carved out of the sandstone by the brothers of the Beyart Monastery centuries ago, the De Schark cave became the place where those recently liberated, and those who liberated them, came together to celebrate Christmas mass.
An emotion as conflicted as Christmas in wartime itself was in the air of the cave.
Having spent three Christmas's in combat, I know the feelings -- the hope of a new and everlasting life balanced with the fear associated with imminent danger.
On one side of the cave were the liberated Dutch people, tasting freedom for the first time in four years.
They were exceedingly happy…grateful for their American liberators.
But the Americans -- on the other side of the cave, who were in the area resting after months of heavy and costly fighting -- had just received orders telling them they would reinforce their brothers near a place called Bastogne.
Those young men tempered the celebration of that Christmas eve night with a sobriety known only to those who know they will soon face danger.
(pause)
Sixty nine years have passed since that service.
Sixty nine years since the 300 Americans who shared communion with their Dutch brothers signed their name on the wall of the cave and left to fight in a town not far from here.
Very few would see another Christmas.
In the sixty nine years since, the seeds of hope and joy, planted by those young men and watered with their blood have been recalled by the Dutch people in that cave, year after year.
We learned of that story, last Christmas Eve when we took Christmas Eve mass at the De Shark Cave.
(pause)
But before we went to mass, we came here, to this cemetery.
(pause longer)
On a cold, rainy Christmas Eve afternoon, before we went to mass, when most Europeans are gathering with family preparing for the Christmas celebration, we came here.
We did not expect to see what we saw.
Arriving -- just over there -- we observed a steady stream of Dutch families, all with flowers, and cards, visiting this cemetery.
Visiting the graves of Americans who they did not know, but whom they had adopted.
As we entered the cemetery, we saw an elderly man carefully tending a grave, right over there.
We watched him as he spent several minutes in silent reflection, pausing to wipe a drop of rainwater off the tombstone of the soldier he had adopted.
As he got up to leave, Sue and I approached, and gently asked him if the grave was of someone he'd known, and what that soldier's story may have been.
That man had adopted the grave of 2LT Arthur Hood, from Texas, 40 years ago. He told us he had visited that grave every week during that 40 year period.
That's when we learned about the incredible loyalty of the people of Margraten.
(pause)
On this hallowed grounds of the Margraten Cemetery lay 8,301 young American men.
An additional 1,722 men are memorialized along the court of honor by the reflecting pool.
And although the American Battle Monuments Commission preserves this sacred place with diligent reverence, the people of Margraten enliven each of these graves through the blessings of gratitude and a living memorial.
It amazed us to find that since this place was established in December, 1944, the people of Margraten have taken it upon themselves to adopt this site, to honor each American grave
Their only connection to the soldiers buried there is an eternal gratitude for their freedom.
(pause)
When my staff heard I was coming here, one of my colonels wrote me a note about a family member who is buried here.
His uncle, he told me, is at Margraten. Anton C. Simon, known as 'Beaner' to his family.
A radio operator, killed by a sniper just one heartbreaking month before the war ended.
He then told me a Dutch family named Rynbout adopted his uncle, looking after his grave, and even hosting his grandmother on the three visits she paid to her son's grave.
He wanted me to give the Rynbouts, and the people of this town, his sincere thanks.
I'm sure the Rynbouts are just like that elderly man Sue and I saw paying his respects last Christmas Eve.
And I would like to pass the thanks to the Rynbout family, and the thanks of all Americans, to the people of Margraten who tend to our soldiers, here.
Yours are acts of respect and loyalty, learned from fathers and mothers, passed on to daughters and sons.
We are honored to be here with those who gave their lives -- out there -- but we are also very honored to be with the people of Margraten who will never forget that young American men died so that those they didn't even know would know freedom.
(pause)
Sixty nine years have brought healing and hope to Europe.
Those sixty nine years have also brought a friendship between the Netherlands and the United States, born through common suffering and a love of freedom…and the knowledge of its price.
Today our young men and women - Dutch, American, British, German, Polish and many others -- join an alliance on new battlefields in distant lands, where the cost of liberty is no cheaper than it was in 1944.
And those soldiers, who our nations have sent forward once again to carry the torch of freedom against the darkness of tyrany, remind us of our commitment to one another.
And our commitment to liberty.
(pause)
The price is high. Those who are asked to pay that price should always be remembered.
The people of Margraten understand that, and for that this old soldier, and my wife, are very grateful.
Thank you very much, and God bless you all.
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