In 1947 the US government decided to make the Margraten cemetery a cemetery for fallen soldiers of World War II.
The design of the cemetery contract was awarded to the architects Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbott of Boston, Massachusetts. The landscape design landscape architects chosen were Clark, Rapuano and Halleran from New York.
Non-US dead were moved elsewhere, the Russians were reburied in the War Cemetery Amersfoort, the Germans in the military cemetery in Ysselsteyn. The American soldiers were buried in temporary cemeteries in Son and Molenhoek (for casualties during Operation Market Garden and were transferred to Margraten, bringing the total number of US casualties to over 18,000.
Book:
"From farm field to soldiers field tells the story of the soldiers and local residents of Margraten involved in the construction of the cemetery.
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