Fields of Honor&Faces of Margraten
Donation protected
Foundation United Adopters American War Graves
The foundation ( www.svaao.nl) is a collective of Belgian and Dutch adopters of American WWII soldiers' graves at American War Cemeteries in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, whose primarily aim it is to give a face to each one of these soldiers. By doing so, the foundation hopes to keep alive the memory to these men and women in honor of the sacrifices for our freedom. Today, the foundation is asking for your help in achieving its mission by asking support for its projects.
The foundation, first of all, aims to achieve its goal by extensively conducting research to all soldiers buried at the American War Cemeteries Ardennes, Epinal, Henri-Chapelle, Lorraine, Luxembourg, and Netherlands (Margraten). All available information and photos is accessible through our online Fields of Honor – Database, which was created in 2008. At the moment, the database has over 25,000 personal memorial pages for the soldiers who have been either buried or memorialized at the aforementioned cemeteries, making it an important source of information for soldiers’ families, grave adopters, and others. This virtual memorial is accessible via www.fieldsofhonor-database.com .
Other than that, the foundation also aims to achieve its goal through the The Faces of Margraten tribute. During this biannual tribute, the foundation displays over 4,000 personal photos next to the graves and names on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial. The photos offer visitors the opportunity to look into the eyes of those who liberated us more than 70 years ago, bringing them for many back to life. Simultaneously, the photos are a powerful testimony of the human cost of war and thus serve as a warning to younger generations. Since the first time this tribute took place, the tribute has inspired others to initiate similar tributes at local and other U.S. cemeteries, including Cambridge and Epinal. To learn more about The Faces of Margraten in particular, please visit www.thefacesofmargraten.com.
To continue these projects, as well as to further develop them, it is that the foundation is now asking for your help. After all, the foundation’s mission is to put a face to every name. However, information is still missing for about 20,000 soldiers. We will commit ourselves to continuing our quest in the years to come to make sure that these men and women, and their sacrifices, are not forgotten; the funds raised through GoFundMe will help to cover for future research expenses. Furthermore, the foundation is raising money to generate a start-up budget for the following:
The improvement of the Fields of Honor – Database. This virtual memorial is currently operating on an outdated, limited system. This makes, for example, that we only have limited possibilities to enrich memorial pages with additional photos, documents, and other material like videos. Also, there are concerns about the sustainability of the current database. Therefore, for these and other reasons, the foundation is looking to develop an improved database. Phase One of this development will be to develop an extensive plan. The raised budget will be used to hire a consultant who can help us in this process.
The Faces of Margraten tribute in 2018. The foundation aims to organize the tribute for the third time in May 2018. In 2016, the foundation was able to display about 4,100 photos. As a result of extensive research efforts by volunteers, the foundation expects to give a face to over half of the soldiers in 2018, ie. to over more than 5,000 soldiers. A part of the raised budget will be used as a start-up budget to cover initial expenses in organizing the 2018 tribute.
Fully run by volunteers, the foundation’s financial resources are limited. Therefore, your support is of vital importance. We hope that you will consider a contribution to make sure that the foundation can continue its current work and that it can kick off its new plans. For everybody without a credit card, find more information on how you can be part of this as well by clicking the link below:
http://www.svaao.nl/index.php/en/support-us/donation
The foundation ( www.svaao.nl) is a collective of Belgian and Dutch adopters of American WWII soldiers' graves at American War Cemeteries in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, whose primarily aim it is to give a face to each one of these soldiers. By doing so, the foundation hopes to keep alive the memory to these men and women in honor of the sacrifices for our freedom. Today, the foundation is asking for your help in achieving its mission by asking support for its projects.
The foundation, first of all, aims to achieve its goal by extensively conducting research to all soldiers buried at the American War Cemeteries Ardennes, Epinal, Henri-Chapelle, Lorraine, Luxembourg, and Netherlands (Margraten). All available information and photos is accessible through our online Fields of Honor – Database, which was created in 2008. At the moment, the database has over 25,000 personal memorial pages for the soldiers who have been either buried or memorialized at the aforementioned cemeteries, making it an important source of information for soldiers’ families, grave adopters, and others. This virtual memorial is accessible via www.fieldsofhonor-database.com .
Other than that, the foundation also aims to achieve its goal through the The Faces of Margraten tribute. During this biannual tribute, the foundation displays over 4,000 personal photos next to the graves and names on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial. The photos offer visitors the opportunity to look into the eyes of those who liberated us more than 70 years ago, bringing them for many back to life. Simultaneously, the photos are a powerful testimony of the human cost of war and thus serve as a warning to younger generations. Since the first time this tribute took place, the tribute has inspired others to initiate similar tributes at local and other U.S. cemeteries, including Cambridge and Epinal. To learn more about The Faces of Margraten in particular, please visit www.thefacesofmargraten.com.
To continue these projects, as well as to further develop them, it is that the foundation is now asking for your help. After all, the foundation’s mission is to put a face to every name. However, information is still missing for about 20,000 soldiers. We will commit ourselves to continuing our quest in the years to come to make sure that these men and women, and their sacrifices, are not forgotten; the funds raised through GoFundMe will help to cover for future research expenses. Furthermore, the foundation is raising money to generate a start-up budget for the following:
The improvement of the Fields of Honor – Database. This virtual memorial is currently operating on an outdated, limited system. This makes, for example, that we only have limited possibilities to enrich memorial pages with additional photos, documents, and other material like videos. Also, there are concerns about the sustainability of the current database. Therefore, for these and other reasons, the foundation is looking to develop an improved database. Phase One of this development will be to develop an extensive plan. The raised budget will be used to hire a consultant who can help us in this process.
The Faces of Margraten tribute in 2018. The foundation aims to organize the tribute for the third time in May 2018. In 2016, the foundation was able to display about 4,100 photos. As a result of extensive research efforts by volunteers, the foundation expects to give a face to over half of the soldiers in 2018, ie. to over more than 5,000 soldiers. A part of the raised budget will be used as a start-up budget to cover initial expenses in organizing the 2018 tribute.
Fully run by volunteers, the foundation’s financial resources are limited. Therefore, your support is of vital importance. We hope that you will consider a contribution to make sure that the foundation can continue its current work and that it can kick off its new plans. For everybody without a credit card, find more information on how you can be part of this as well by clicking the link below:
http://www.svaao.nl/index.php/en/support-us/donation
Organizer
Jasper Van Haren
Organizer
Kaatsheuvel, NL
