'Monuments Men' author shares another inspiring and true story in 'Remember Us'

When it comes to our heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice serving their country, there's nothing more important to their families than closure. And for many who lost loved ones during World War II, that closure never came. In Robert Edsel's latest book, Remember Us, he tells us the true story of how following the liberation of the Netherlands, Dutch citizens began adopting the graves of fallen Americans. Dutch families would visit them regularly, place flowers, and when possible, correspond with their families back home. By 1946, all of the nearly 18,000 graves had been adopted, but not all of their families back home knew where their loved ones even were. And that is where the Forever Promise Project comes in. Here to talk about the book and this incredible project, Robert Edsel. Robert, thank you for being here this morning. Thank you. Good morning and happy Veterans Day to all of you. Bob, in particular, thank you for your service. Thank you very much, sir. When it comes to, this is a multi-layered project that you have. So first of all, the book, I mean, it's set the scene for our viewers and talk about how you even learned about this story. It is multi-layered, but the same type process I went through on telling the story of the Monuments Men that George Clooney made the film of in 2014. Nine years of research into these men and women, because there are women, buried at the cemetery in Margraten. I was introduced to a lady when she was 88, nine years ago, who was 19 when the Americans liberated this area of the Netherlands. And she was friends with the one Monuments Man who was killed and buried in that cemetery, Captain Walter Hutchhausen. I had a chance to visit with her. She said, do you know about the cemetery? And I said, yes. And she said, have you been there? And I said, yes, I've been there. And she said, so you know about the grave adoption program? And I said, the what? And she said, the grave adoption program. And as she started to explain this to me, as she understood it, having been an adopter herself, I was embarrassed. I'd never heard about it. And I started researching it because it was an extraordinary story and one that we don't know about. And partly because no one in the world has ever done anything like this. It's a remarkable dedication to the Americans that are buried there. So the Americans that were buried there, the fallen, were they all identified? Was there an attempt after that to repatriate them here to the United States? Or was it just a time when you couldn't, I mean, you're talking about 10,000. service members that lost their lives that they couldn't make it back here and so this this town which was so incredibly grateful for these these men who had saved their lives decided to adopt them. Everyone, we knew who they were. There were 18,000 men and some women that were buried there today. There are 10,000 men and four women who are buried there. In fact, 5% of the 10,000 are from California. And the army was extraordinary in determining and identifying the vast majority The majority of the remains 99% plus at the end of the war. The Dutch were trying to figure out an answer to the question how do you thank your liberators when they're no longer alive to thank? And they came up with this idea of grave adoption. By 1948, four years later, the government offered all families the opportunity to either To either have their loved one returned home or to have them buried overseas. There were 10,000 Americans that stayed overseas, about 8,000 that were returned to the United States. So that's the status now. The Dutch were determined to try and make sure that the family members knew that their loved ones had been buried there. And it's a remarkable story about a woman really, who was the mother of 11 children, A Dutch mom who was determined to make sure that All of these men and women that are buried there were connected with their family members. Wow. And today, as a result of our efforts with the book, Remember Us, and the Forever Promise Project, foreverpromise.org, we have now connected, instead of just the 1,000 American relatives that were connected with the 10,000 Dutch adopters, we've now increased that by connecting about 2,000 American families. That, with the Dutch adopters, so we're now up to 3,000. The army wouldn't make those connections at the end of the war, so we're using the tools of technology to do it today. I have chills just hearing you talk about this. What have been some of the standout stories that come to your mind as you're thinking about when you're connecting these families to the Dutch families who've taken care of these grave sites and honored their loved ones? We connected a fellow a few weeks ago who was 82 years old and he was the son. Of someone who's buried at the cemetery, you have to consider how does the math work out there? Well, his father was killed on April 6, 1945. He was born on April 6, 1945, he never knew his father, and he told me tearfully, Hopefully, it's been he never stops thinking about his dad because every birthday that anybody celebrates, he thinks about what took place on his birthday and thinks of his father. So there are a lot of poignant stories that we are learning today. I tell the story of Remember Us through the lives of about 12 Americans, including The gravediggers who were Black Americans, we were more comfortable handing a shovel to than a gun. Wow. But I also include the story of a Black American who was in one of our segregated tank divisions. They fought very heroically. But I wanted people to know the whole story and that war and our freedom comes at a tremendous cost. And yet there's this moment of, the book really is a story of gratitude, remembrance and grace. I had someone say to me, you should have included a box of Kleenex with the book. And I said, did you find it sad? And they said, no, I found it incredibly inspiring and joyful, tears of joy over what the Dutch have done. Because there's always been sadness with death and war, but the Dutch did something no one's ever done before. And that was to find a way to revere these Americans and make sure their their memory was preserved forever. And they have now for 82 years, Honored the promise of leave your boys with us, we will watch over them like our own forever. And they're now in year 82 of doing this for forever. So 82 years old, you've been saying it's quite an extraordinary story. A lot of time has passed. And so I'm curious to know whether the Dutch people there. They have this incredible connection with the Americans and these people who have saved their lives. Does it live on today? I mean, are the younger generations there still as invested in this story as past generations? Absolutely. Part of the reason we don't know about it is it stayed in the families. They're now in the third and fourth generations of adopters, and they don't think anything exceptional about what it is that they do. Of course, I did, and most people that hear about it do, because in many ways, the Dutch are more American today than we are. I mean, we do recognize Veterans Day, Memorial Day. I think a lot of Americans maybe struggle with what the difference is. The Dutch know. The Dutch are out there at that cemetery with their kids practically every day. It's, of course, a somber experience seeing 8,300 headstones and 1,700 names on the walls of the missing, but it's filled with life, young life, children that are out there. And the parents and grandparents take their kids, they stand them in front of these grave markers, and they point out that these boys and the four women that are there We're just a few years older than these kids are, and they had a future. They had things they were looking forward to experiencing, and they gave it up for you. What are you going to do with that? And so they're drilling into their kids who paid for the freedom that they've been able to enjoy for the last 82 years, having lost it for four years, four months, and four days. Our challenge in the States is somewhat different. We haven't lost our freedom. So it's hard for us to appreciate it, and we oftentimes, all of us, and I'm guilty of it too, we take it for granted because it's all we've ever known. But there are, over the last 50 years, 7,900 Americans that we've lost in all the different conflicts that we've fought on this side of Vietnam, and another 58,000 in Vietnam, 45,000 in Korea, 294,000 in World War II that are buried somewhere in the United States or at sea. Excluding our men and women that are buried overseas. And of course, they're the real heroes because they didn't come home. And one of your colleagues commented earlier and it is so true. The heroes include the wives and the families because they live these deployments. They live the dread of seeing a vehicle pull up in front of their home in the darkness of the morning with some service officer preparing to break their heart. With the worst news that they'll ever hear. That's right. And so it's an extraordinary gesture on the part of the Dutch that they haven't forgotten what it's like for these families and even their distant relatives. They want to make sure that they're in contact with them. So we're continuing to do that work. I hope your viewers will visit foreverpromise.org and see if they have a relative overseas that we can connect with their Dutch adopters. We don't charge anybody for this effort. The Monuments Men and Women Foundation. Does this, and of course, Remember Us tells the story, and for women that are interested in a war story, this is your story, because this mom of 11, when the army refused to provide the next of kin information, got on the very first airplane she'd ever flown on, left her 11 children behind, and came to the United States for five weeks, living in a different home every night of someone that had lost someone during the war, and it was she. That spoke these words, leave your boys with us, move on with your lives. We will watch over them like our own forever and the Dutch have honored that promise. That stewardship is really important, especially I can speak from personal experience. My great uncle, his plane was shot down Christmas Eve, fighting in World War II. His remains were never recovered. That was something that my family has always been wondering, what were his last moments like? Where is he? So knowing that there are people overseas, a lot of whom we've never even met, who have the thought and the heart to take care of these people who they never even knew is pretty profound. It is. It's a role. It's an example for us as Americans about ways we can do more than just singing the national anthem at a football or baseball game. And that's important. And it's certainly important when you see men and women in service, go over and thank them. Just shake their hand. You don't even have to say anything, but it'll mean a lot to them. They're usually intimidated about it. They feel like they're just doing their job, but they're doing more It's much more than their job. We Americans, I think we can do better to express our gratitude to the men and women who served. We saw that in real time here as we've got our reporters out there just talking to just folks on the street and then learning. There's a lot of people who he learned were veterans, they don't really talk about their service that much. 80 years old, yeah, never said a word. And then there you go and they have all of these incredible stories. And it's like, these are the people that we can learn from, right? The people who've had these unbelievable stories and lives that they have lived. Really quickly, we wanted to ask you, because there was another local story here. Don Borton, he was a first lieutenant, killed in action. His daughter just happens to live here in Simi Valley, and she learned about your project, and she reached out. Tell us about this. Well, she filled out the form, the questionnaire that we have, which says, you know, tell us your relationship to whoever's buried over there. Are you aware there's a grave adoption program? Would you like to be in contact with your doctor? I'm looking at the form she filled out. She wrote, I would like to thank the people who have been caring for my father's grave. I had no idea this has been going on. I am so grateful. Wow. Wow. Wow. That's very powerful. It is. That's very powerful. Thank you for the work that you've been doing to highlight this. And the woman you spoke about how she just started the whole thing, so. What an angel, what an angel she is. An angel, yeah. Thank you. Thank you for your time today. We appreciate that. Such important information. For more information on the search for a loved one, you can go to that website, foreverpromise.org. And Robert's book, Remember Us, which tells this amazing story, has just been released in paperback. Thank you so much for being here this morning. Thank you, Robert. Thank you. Happy Veterans Day. Happy Veterans Day. I'll be right back.