I would think this question might be asked of someone at the American Embassy. I would try that first!

That's a good one Marion. We haven't thought about that.

Thanks

Yes, the US Embassy would be a good idea.

We had a representative at one of our commemorations at the Glider Monument.

A very friendly guy with a genuine interest in what we did.

Erwin

Hopefully the guy in Holland has the same kind of interest.

Okay. This is our concept. A triangle (mile)stone. 35 cm wide and 120 cm high. There will be an additional text but we haven't finished that. Please give us your opinion.

Regards,

Frank

Hi Frank,

Actually I have a little bit of experience in this. I was involved in getting a monument built to the Connecticut Volunteers at Vicksburg Military park. You have a lot of different avenues you could follow:

Do you know the hometown of the honoree? Perhaps a letter to the local newspaper or the mayor of the town might get some interest going. You might find someone to run a small fundraiser for you there. (Don't discount those small donations) .

The local tourist board. By placing something for tourists to visit, you will be helping to pull tourist dollars in. It would be good for them to pitch in little money and it would be good for local restaurants, hotels, petrol stations.

If you know that your honoree belonged to some kind of an organization? We were very fortunate that one of survivors of our unit was involved in the Knights of Columbus and they made a donation in his honor.

We found several relatives of people in the unit just by posting on a bunch of websites dedicated to the Civil War, Writing letters to Civil War Roundtables and a representative from our group attending local festivals and fairs with a small booth and collection jar. There must be a way to find WWII organizations that would be glad to post on their website or print a small article in their newsletter....

Hope these help. I can't wait to see the finished product.

Thank you very much for your information. We will definetely contact the people from his hometown. We are in contact with the immediate family. Sometimes it's a little bit tough but we are in touch. I hope you like the monument.

Regards,

Frank

What kind of material are you using? I am interested. Hard to tell what the finished product will look like, but it looks fine to me now. What a great project. I know the family will be thrilled and honored.

Bluestone from Belgium. I know it's hard to compare this with the finished product but now you can see the shape of it. We also send a copy of the concept to the family but no answer yet. I am really looking forward to it.

Frank

A very nice and fitting monument if I may say so.

Erwin

Thank you Erwin.

As an update: The mayor has now the story and things like that, so he can decide if and how much money we (can) get from the community. It will take another month before we get a reply

I would be willing to contribute. It may not be much, but can I send $5.00 to you for the project????

Perhaps we will have to start some kind of project (like the project about Pegasus 65) I will have to ask Danny Greeno about that. Eveything contribution is welcome. Thank you so far Marion.

(But first we will check how much we can get from our community)

Mmmmmm the government from Margraten will have a look at the spot first. Some delay .

For everyone who is interested, we have an update on our website about the looting of churchbells. Please check it and give me some feedback about the English text, was quite difficult to translate. We are with four guys but we don't speak or write perfect English.

Regards,

Frank

http://www.12-09-1944.nl/index_en.php

We have been given the green light from the authorities to place a monument on the spot which we had in mind .

Now waiting for fundraisers. We will give people the opportunity to donate some money by paypal. Take a look on our website and see the new layout.

http://www.12-09-1944.nl/index_en.php

Frank