Zwaagwesteinde/De Westereen, The Netherlands
Monument to Those Lost in the Village
Dedicated May 4, 1986
In a village in the province called Friesland in The Netherlands, there is a monument to those who have been lost from or in the village. Built of African Blue and Balmoral Red granite, the monument is triangular in shape, surmounted by flame-like elements to symbolize the eternal flames of memory. One panel is inscribed, in Dutch, with these words: In Remembrance of Those Who Have Fallen. Another panel of the monument lists names of those lost between 1940-1945. All of the names are Dutch with the exception of one American airman who came down in the village when his parachute failed to open: Milton C. Spangenberg. With a space after the Dutch names, the monument lists him last:
Milton C. Spangenberg
U.S.A. 33352652T_43
11 December 1943 in Zwaagwesteinde
T/Sgt. Spangenberg was the top turret gunner/engineer aboard a 95th Bomb Group aircraft dubbed Heavenly Daze on a mission to Emden, Germany. Five of the ten crew members were killed in action that day, and the remaining five were taken prisoners of war. The villagers of Zwaagwesteinde/De Westereen were shocked by Spangenberg’s tragic death in their midst and many visited the site of his demise and attended his funeral, despite the severe disapproval of the German officials in the area at the time. They kept alive his death and made sure to include his name on the village monument erected 43 years later. Annually on May 4, the Dutch people pause to remember their victims of war. This memorial has been adopted by a school in the village and every year children are chosen to read the names on the monument. Each year, a Dutch child remembers this brave member of the 95 th Bomb Group (H) by speaking, in Dutch, the following: Milton C. Spangenberg, died for our freedom on December 11, 1943 in Zwaagwesteinde.