Arthur J. Whitbeck, Technician Fourth Grade* in the United States Army during World War II, was only 21 when he was killed on March 4, 1945. He is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in the small Dutch town of Margarten near Maastricht. The cemetery is the final resting place of almost 8,300 American WWII casualties. The names of another 1,722 soldiers are recorded on the Walls of the Missing.
The people of the Netherlands have never forgotten the service and sacrifice of these soldiers. Ever since 1945, locals have adopted the graves of the soldiers. The adopters treat the soldiers like their own family, bringing flowers to the graves regularly.
In 2020, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands in 1945, volunteers put together a book titled The Faces of Margraten: They Will Remain Forever Young. Arthur Whitbeck is among the 250 American soldiers whose stories were told in the book. Its authors, Jori Videc, Sebastiaan Vonk, and Arie-Jan van Hee have said of their work, "This commemorative book stands as a testament to their service and sacrifice and is not meant to be tucked away on a shelf. Rather, we believe, it is deserving of a prominent place on anyone's coffee table, in a classroom, in the library, or in a veterans' post as a daily reminder of those to whom we own so much."
The Dutch edition of The Faces of Margraten sold out twice. Now, three years later, there is an American edition which the authors officially presented to the Deputy Chief of Mission Aleisha Woodward of the U.S. Embassy in the Netherlands on March 3, 2023. The American edition includes fifty more stories than the original edition. The book is available through the publisher, Amsterdam University Press, as well as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
* Technician Fourth Grade was a rank of the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1948. It was created to recognize enlisted soldiers with special technical skills who were not trained as combat leaders.
COPYRIGHT 2023 CAROLE OSTERINK
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