Remember Us
Robert M. Edsel
Harper Publishing
April 2025
Remember Us by Robert M. Edsel details American sacrifice, Dutch freedom, and a kept promise. Edsel also wrote the bestseller, The Monuments Men, made into a movie by George Clooney. This storybegins when Hitler invaded Western Europe on May 10, 1940, and the Nazis entered the small rural province of Limburg in the Netherlands shattering more than 100 years of peace. Their freedom gone, the Dutch lived through four-and-a-half years of occupation until American forces reached Limburg in September 1944, the last portion of Western Europe liberated by the Allies before their advance on Nazi Germany.
Like The Monuments Men, Remember Us is an ensemble piece that follows twelve main characters over a six-year span, zeroing in on ordinary people including Frieda van Schäik, a teenager who falls in love with an American soldier; Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole, the first member of the 101st Airborne to receive the Medal of Honor; and Emilie Michiels van Kessenich, the wife of the mayor.
Edsel drew upon never-before-seen letters, diaries, and other historical records. The author captures both the horrors of war and the transcendent power of gratitude, showing the extraordinary measures the Dutch have taken to thank their liberators. Remember Us is a reminder that grief is universal, and that those American soldiers who died liberating the Netherlands will never be forgotten for making the ultimate sacrifice.
Elise Cooper: Why write this story?
Robert M. Edsel: I write books to convey a message and inform about the history of what happened during WWII. I wondered how many people in this country had no idea where their freedom came from; how many people in this country take their freedom for granted. We are 80 years removed from horrible hardship, from WWII and the depression. I wanted to write this inspiring story of how from the backdrop of the most destructive and violent conflict in history emerged this incredible moment of grace where the Dutch felt forever beholding to the Americans. They made a promise to the Americans that gave them their freedom to watch forever over the graves of the American soldiers like they were their own. Now 81 years later they continue to do so.
EC: Why the title?
RME: We do not want to forget people. President Kennedy said, “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.” The title specifically is a throwback to the remarkable and beautiful poignant poem written by Archibald MacLeish, “The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak”. It was written after WWI and followed the plight of soldiers that lose their life in combat and their internal wish. Part of the poem reads:
“Our deaths are not ours: they are yours: they will mean what you make them.
We leave you our deaths: give them their meaning: give them an end to the war and a true peace: give them a victory that ends the war and a peace afterwards: give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died. Remember us.”
This is the story I tell in Remember Us.
EC: You put the full poem in the beginning of the book. What role does it play?
RME: It sets the stage for what people are going to be reading. It certainly informs them about the sense of gratitude and hope. It describes the most beautiful words I have ever written about combat soldiers and those that do not make it. They understand that they no longer have any influence, but their memories rests with the people they left behind. People can forget about them and not learn the lessons of the cost and sacrifice, in which case their lives were wasted. Or they can be remembered, and we can do better to avoid conflicts but if we get in them minimize the loss of life.
EC: Who of the twelve characters written about in this book would you want to highlight?
RME: Emilie Michiels van Kessenich, mother of twelve children: eight when the war broke out, three during the war, and one immediately after the war, and the 12th child a year later. What a remarkable woman who realized to adopt the graves of the dead soldiers came a responsibility that lay with reaching across the ocean and going into the American homes where the suffering was just beginning, where lives were changed and transformed forever because of the loss of loved ones. She wanted to lessen their grief to let them know their loved one’s loss was not in vain and will never be forgotten. When the US government and military refused to provide the next of kin information, blocking that noble effort, Emilie had the presence of mind to write to the US President and plea for his involvement. It was completely ineffective because the Army had made its mind up. She got on a plane, leaving her children behind, and came to the US. For five weeks she lived in a different home every night with a family who had lost someone during the war, absorbing their grief, leaving hope and inspiration in its place. She then made this forever promise that “we will watch over your boys like our own forever. Trust us we are dedicated and committed.” She died in 1970, but her family continues to assist American families that want to visit, including today. It is an incredibly moving and inspirational story.
EC: What do you want to say about Frieda?
RME: I knew Frieda the last years of her life and even delivered a eulogy. I am of course beholden to her and Emilie because they helped me on how to tell the story. Emilie did it from the grave with her extraordinary memory books, photographs, and diaries that she kept throughout her life. Frieda did it in person, through meeting her. In 2016, she asked me if I had been to the Netherlands American Cemetery. She then asked if I knew about the Grave Adoption Program. This is where it started, pure curiosity. The more I dug into it the more I was impressed.
EC: What about Lt. Col. Robert G. Cole?
RME: He played an intricate role in the book. I knew his son the last three years of his life. I spent countless hours with him talking about the book. He got to know his father through a newsreel that surfaced in the 1990s, including hearing his voice. His father was a remarkable man. He knew General Eisenhower. For his bravery and leadership during the Normandy invasion he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was the leader of the 101st Airborne during the drop in the Market Garden in the Netherlands a couple of months later, something exceedingly dangerous, more difficult than Normandy. It was an airdrop involving twice the number of paratroopers, many more aircraft, with the Germans very well prepared. It is a tragedy he was killed there. But this is the nature of war. He was an incredibly brave soldier, beloved by his men.
EC: What do you want readers to get out of the book?
RME: I hope those that read the book will have an appreciation for their freedom and feel an immense sense of gratitude to the men and women that risk their lives to preserve our freedom, past and present. They will have a great chance to see that one person can make a difference. The success of the Grave Adoption Program came about Memorial Day, 1946, where all 17,800 American men and a few women, all buried in the cemetery had grave adopters. There were 17,800 Dutch people, each of whom committed to watch over these men and women, visit the cemetery several times a year, put flowers, and write to the next of kin. This group of people made the promise to actively remember the Americans who helped to free their country and who gave them back their freedom that they lost in 1940. The success of the Adoption Program is because everyone over there did something. The unique result was how everyone worked together, trying to find a way to thank their liberators, the ones who got their freedom back, when they are no longer alive to thank.
THANK YOU!!
