The Americans that fell for Dutch Freedom

[pieter]

The Americans that fell for Dutch Freedom. We will never forget them and don't take our freedom for granted. We remember the Americans, Canadians, Poles, British, French, Belgian, Norwegian and Dutch soldiers that fell for our nation. And I ad the Dutch resistance fighters that fell for their nation. Roman-Catholic, Protestant Calvinist, Jewish, Socialist, Communist, Conservative and liberal resistance fighters. During the war they forgot their political differences and fought a common enemy. The German-, Austrian and Dutch Nazi's in the Netherlands. The Wehrmacht, Waffen-SS in the Netherlands, the Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine in the Netherlands, the Ordnungspolizei (Grüne Polizei -in the Netherlands they called them that way during the war-), the Gestapo, Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPO) and the Dutch Nazified police force. The Poles fought in Arnhem (Gelderland Province, Mideast), Breda (North Brabant Province, South Netherlands), Axel (Zeeland Province, South-Western Netherlands).

The Americans liberated the Netherlands together with British, Canadian, Polish, French, Belgian, Norwegian, New Zealanders, Australians and some South Africans, as soldiers, officers, generals, pilots and Navy people.



















These images are from the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, a Second World War military war grave cemetery, located in the village of Margraten, 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Maastricht, in the most southern part of the Netherlands. The cemetery, the only American one in the Netherlands and dedicated in 1960, contains a constantly varying number above 8,000 American war dead and covers 65.5 acres (26.5 ha). It is administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

[pieter]

We Dutch people will never forget the Americans that died in the Netherlands for our liberty. This creates an eternal bond. That bond goes back to the American revolution. The Dutch were one of the first to recognise the USA as a Democratic Republic.

The U.S. partnership with the Netherlands is one of its oldest continuous relationships and dates back to the American Revolution. Starting in the late 16th century, the Dutch and other Europeans began to colonize the eastern coast of North America. The Dutch named their territory New Netherland, which became a colony of the Dutch Republic in 1624. The Dutch colonial settlement of New Amsterdam later became New York City. The present-day flag of New York City is based on the flag of Republic of the United Netherlands.

Though the action was disavowed by the government of the Netherlands, on November 16, 1776, the fort at St. Eustatius gave the first formal salute (firing its guns nine times) to a ship flying the American flag. On 19 April 1782, John Adams was received by the States General in The Hague and recognized as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America. By doing so, it became the second foreign country to recognize the United States (after France on February 6, 1778). The house that Adams purchased in The Hague became the first American embassy in the world.

The countries were described by President George W. Bush as "brother nations". and by President Barack Obama as "closest friends which friendship will never die". Obama has also said that, "Without the Netherlands there wouldn't be a United States of America as everyone knows it now".

Source: Wikipedia