(12 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Margraten, Netherlands – 11 September 2024
1. Grave adopters Ton Hermes, Maria Kleijnen and Royce Taylor’s grandson, Scott Taylor walking in the American Military Cemetery in Margraten
2. Pan of Maria Kleijnen laying flowers on the grave of Royce Taylor
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ton Hermes, Royce Taylor’s grave adopter:
++STARTS FROM PREVIOUS SHOT/OVERLAID++
”All the soldiers that I remembered here are adopted. We expect from the adopters that they visit the grave regularly, birthday, the day he died, Memorial Day in May, Christmas. There are always people here running around with flowers and going to their soldier. So that is the only thing we expect from the adopter. If possible, they can get in touch with the American family. A lot of American families don’t know there is an adoption program. So it’s important that people know and that they contact us, because for them it’s a big comfort knowing that someone is looking after grandfather or father here in the Netherlands.”
4. Scott Taylor, Royce Taylor’s grandson kneeling by the grave of his grandfather ++OVERLAID++
5. Close of Royce Taylor’s grave ++OVERLAID++
6. Royce Taylor’s grave adopter holding a photo of Royce Taylor’s ++OVERLAID++
7. Pan of photos showing the moments of the Netherlands liberation in 1944 – 1945 ++OVERLAID++
8. Pan of people looking at photo
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Scott Taylor, Royce Taylor’s grandson:
++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT/OVERLAID++
”So I’m very grateful. I can’t say it enough to Ton and Maria, that I really am grateful for their efforts to be able to remember my grandfather, and then also help other Dutch families to remember the others that are here in this cemetery. “
10. Close of phone ++OVERLAID++
11. Ton Hermes, Maria Kleijnen and Scott Taylor near grave
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Scott Taylor, Royce Taylor’s grandson:
++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT/OVERLAID++
"But at the core, the Dutch families never want their next generations to forget the sacrifice and the blood that was spilled for their freedom."
13. Wide of the American Military Cemetery in Margraten
STORYLINE:
In the rolling hills of the southern Netherlands, locals have vowed to never forget the American and other Allied soldiers who gave their lives fighting Nazi Germany and helping to liberating towns and villages from World War II Nazi occupation.
Nowhere is the deep-rooted gratitude of the post-war generations more clear than in the 65.5 acres of manicured lawns and white marble headstones of the Netherlands American Cemetery on a hill just outside the village of Margraten.
The hallowed burial ground is hosting a concert Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of the start of the liberation of the Netherlands.
Hundreds of people like Ton Hermes and Maria Kleijnen have chosen to “adopt” one of the 8,288 Americans buried there.
It’s an act of gratitude and remembrance that started almost as soon as war ended and endures to this day. People who adopt a grave visit it regularly and leave flowers on the fallen soldier’s birthday, the day they died, at Christmas, on Memorial Day or whenever else they see fit. Some reach out to families of the dead in the U.S., forming lasting transatlantic friendships.
Hermes and Kleijnen adopted 2nd Lt. Royce D. Taylor, a bombardier with the 527 Bomb Squadron, 379 heavy bomber group, who was killed at age 23 when his B-17 plane was shot down on his third mission over Germany — a raid to Bremen — on Dec. 20, 1943.
Taylor agreed.
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