American War Graves Protestant Churchyard Opijnen

There are eight American airmen buried on the Opijnen Protestant Churchyard. That’s remarkable because almost all other American graves are reburied on American War Cemeteries or repatriated to the U.S.A. On special request of the people of Opijnen and the relatives of these casualties, these graves are still in Opijnen.

The gravestones are different from the marble crosses used on the American War Cemeteries. They are the same as used on the "National Cemeteries" in the U.S.A. like Arlington National Cemetery.

After a bombing raid on the Messerschmitt factory in Kassel (Germany), the crew tried to get back to their base in England. But at 11:00 their B17 of the 91 Bomb Group American Air Force with the name 'Man-O-War', was shot down by German fighter planes. The plane crashed in Opijnen, eight of the ten crew members died on impact. These eight men are buried in this cemetery. This memorial marks the crash location.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries & TracesOfWar.nl
• Photos: Arjan Vrieze
• American Women's Club of Amsterdam