Mission Margraten Plus is a 501 c (3) nonprofit in Brooklyn, NY. It was born from the desire of our close-knit group of WWII veterans to travel to The Netherlands for the 75th anniversary of the Dutch Liberation from Nazi occupation in 2020, but Covid derailed our plans. Our boys remained steadfast that we would go when it was safe to do so.
Our trip finally happened on May 25, 2022. We flew out of JFK with eight WWII veterans and one Rosie the Riveter. Each veteran traveled with their own guardian. With our small team, we totaled twenty-two passengers aboard a KLM flight where our veterans were treated like royalty from the time we got to JFK, to the time we arrived in Schiphol.
Once we landed in Amsterdam on May 26th, we were greeted by the American Military Attache. Even the Dutch Military Attache flew from Washington DC the same day, to be with us in The Netherlands for this important trip. First stop, the Monument of Tolerance where their Order of William recipient (equivalent to our Medal of Honor) Marco Kroon, greeted us and chatted with our veterans. We had a meet and greet at a local restaurant with local politicians, Dutch active military, and American Legion members the following day. The local press was there to interview our veterans as well. We were invited as guests of honor to the Grave Adoption Foundation concert Friday, May 27th and the Memorial Day ceremony at The Netherlands American Military Cemetery in Margraten on Sunday, May 29th. We met with the Governor of Limburg, Emile Roemer, several Mayors, and high-ranking military officers at those same events. We had our Gratitude and Peace ceremony, which is the crux of our mission, in between those two formal events on Saturday, May 28th in Mesch. We were brought to the event in WWII-era vehicles from our hotel in Margraten. There we gave 100 grave adoption families a piece of marble as a token of our gratitude for adopting the 8,301 graves of American fallen soldiers and the 1,722 names on the Wall of the Missing. After that, we had a meet and greet at a nearby cultural center with those 100 families.
That evening we were guests of honor at the NAIL (Netherlands American Institute Limburg) gala dinner. High-ranking military officers came to our hotel during our stay to meet our veterans and give them certificates to honor them for their service. We were special guests at the Royal Military Academy in Breda where our veterans were also honored with certificates. At the end of our trip, we spent three days in Belgium. We were given tours of battle sites specific to the Battle of the Bulge. We were also given a special lunch and a tour of the Overloon museum.
This year, we leave NY on May 22nd and return on June 4th, 2023. We have been invited again as guests of honor to the same events except for this year we are attending the AEFA (American European Friendship Association) gala dinner. We will also have our Gratitude and Peace ceremony in Mesch where another 100 grave adoption families will receive a piece of marble as a token of our gratitude. We have two meet and greets scheduled with similar guests as last year and have been invited to have the one after our Gratitude and Peace ceremony, at the Town Hall in Margraten by the Mayor. We will be staying in Valkenburg this year and have scheduled a tour of the town's war history with a local historian. Instead of going to Belgium, we are going to the Arnhem Nijmegen region is best known for Operation Market Garden. We have scheduled tours of the area with a well-respected tour guide. We will also have a well-respected Dutch photographer accompanying us.
There are so many exciting things we are planning to do for this upcoming trip in May 2023. We hope you visit our website and Facebook page for images and information about the trip. And we also hope you share ourwebsite with friends and family to get the story about Mission Margraten Plus and our Greatest Generation taking this incredible trip.