What began in 2008 with a single soldier has, over more than 15 years, grown into a virtual memorial honoring 45,000 American service members who lost their lives in Europe during World War II. Today, the Fields of Honor Foundation adds a new chapter to this story with the launch of the new Fields of Honor platform, which brings together the former Fields of Honor – Database and the tribute The Faces of Margraten. With this launch, we take an important step toward remembrance for the future.
Enriching the stories
The foundation currently commemorates American service members who are buried or memorialized as missing at six cemeteries: Ardennes and Henri-Chapelle (Belgium), Epinal and Lorraine (France), Luxembourg, and Margraten (the Netherlands). In addition, the website also included American service members buried elsewhere in these countries.
Behind every name is a story. With the introduction of the new virtual memorial, these stories are now preserved for the future after the former website had become technologically vulnerable. The new memorial also offers expanded opportunities to share and enrich the collected stories and to support historical and genealogical research. It is now already possible to:
Search the memorial not only by name, but also by unit, hometown, and plane. Searches can even be narrowed to a specific plot or row within a cemetery. Name searches can be further refined using filters.
Download search results as a list and share them with others via a direct link.
Access and download always up-to-date lists from the website, such as the still-missing faces of Margraten.
Download all available information about an individual service member in a clearly organized PDF, or download a concise memorial certificate.
Show an unlimited number of photographs in their original resolution on a soldier’s memorial page, rather than a maximum of four small-scale photos.
Enrich a service member’s memorial page with documents, in addition to photographs. Video and audio files will be added in the near future.
Discover related stories, as a service member’s story often does not stand alone. We now highlight connections between service members—for example, those who served in the same plane crew or who were family members.
A contemporary design with familiar colors
Looking toward the future also calls for a contemporary design. At the same time, the color palette remains familiar: the green tones of the fields of honor, the red and blue of the American flag, and the white of the marble crosses and Stars of David, all reflected in the new design.
We would love to hear your thoughts
This new platform was developed over an extended period in close collaboration with Eyetractive. We are proud of the result, and we would very much value your feedback. Please let us know what you think. Some information and photographs are still being transferred manually, so you may notice that certain elements are not yet complete.
With thanks to
The new Fields of Honor Foundation platform was made possible by more than 400 individual donations and the generous (financial) support of:
Explore the new platform
The virtual memorial
Explore the stories of over 45,000 U.S. soldiers who were killed in Europe during World War II.
The Faces of Margraten
The project puts a face to the soldiers buried and memorialized at the Netherlands American Cemtery in Margraten.
Cemeteries
Learn more about the six cemeteries that our foundation covers.
Help to remember
This is how you can help us make sure that nobody is forgotten.
