Warren and Mabel Rose Feil enjoy one of their last moments together in their garden in Alabama in April 1944. A year later, Warren, a private in the 84th Infantry Division, was killed in Germany on his birthday. When Mabel found out that he lay buried in the American military cemetery of Margraten, she wrote a letter to the local Dutch mayor. “Since you live so near it,” she pleaded, “I will be grateful to you all the days of my life if you can get me a snapshot of his grave.” “My husband and I were so young,” she said in closing, “and he was my whole life to me.” The local press published Mabel’s letter, causing thousands of Dutch to volunteer and adopt American graves. Life magazine in turn picked up the story, causing thousands of American relatives with similar stories to link up with Dutch adopters. As an historical consultant for the Margraten Adoption Foundation and author of ‘The Margraten Boys’ (published with Palgrave Macmillan), I can attest to the fact that the program of adoption is just as popular today as it was in 1945.
