Dutch Boy's Interest In WWII Reaches Here
MASSENA - The fascination of a teenager in the Netherlands with the lives of World War II soldiers who died while liberating Europe has touched north country researchers who assisted him, stirred the memories of their survivors and sent pieces of the north country to a cemetery across the Atlantic.
"What really amazes me is that a 15-year-old boy made contact with our local Massena historian to learn more about some gravesite in the Netherlands - in this case, my uncle - a gravesite of some soldier who enlisted, fought and died in a country, battle or lands that he only possibly learned about in school," said Raymond J. Belanger, Massena, who was named for the soldier who died before he was born. "What further amazes me is that I did not do any research on my uncle until this contact from a youth from a faraway nation."
Mr. Belanger wasn't the only one surprised by the interest of Wesley Haex, whose family has adopted two graves at Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, Netherlands, where 8,301 American soldiers are buried and there is a wall of the missing that numbers 1,722.
"I was really moved by this," said Rita Goldberg, a volunteer at the St. Lawrence County Historical Association, where Mr. Haex turned for help in researching Mr. Belanger's life for Bert and Mieke Kleijnen, who care for his grave and are members of the cemetery's foundation. "The truth is that I rarely think of the thousands of World War II heroes who are buried in Europe, and I had no idea that there were so many kind and admirable people who care for their graves. I think it's wonderful."
Mr. Haex wrote in an e-mail that his interest in World War II runs deep.
"The cemetery tells you the costs of war," he wrote. "It made an impact on me and I wanted to do something for those buried there, they paid with their lives for our freedom."
The first Raymond Belanger was only 19 when he died.
"We got a telegram - back then, that's what they did - they asked us what we wanted to do with the body and we told them to leave him there," said John Belanger, who was 14 when his older brother went off to war. "I was surprised to hear someone was researching him. It's nice that someone remembers."
Raymond Belanger was a Canadian who had lived in Massena most of his life. When the U.S. entered World War II, the government told him to join the military or go back to Canada, John Belanger said. He remembers his older brother, who worked at Alcoa, as a skilled athlete who skated and played baseball and football.
"I always said when he died that I would name my son after him," John Belanger said.
His brother was killed Nov. 23, 1944, in Germany and posthumously awarded the Silver Star.
Mr. Haex adopted two graves in Margraten Cemetery. One was of a Pennsylvania captain and the other was Pfc. John C. Sutton, a native of Watertown. He was an orphan who graduated from the Ranger School at Wanakena before he entered the service April 3, 1943. He served with the 17th Airborne Division in Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany and died March 24, 1945, at the age of 27 from machine gun fire while gliding onto a piece of land where Germans were waiting.
A piece of Mr. Sutton's past is with him in Margraten.
As part of his research, Mr. Haex wrote Kathie A. Nevil, a program aide at the Ranger School, about whether she had a picture of Mr. Sutton.
His picture was among the 15 photographs framed in the hallway of the school of young graduates who were killed in World War II.
"I had probably looked at the picture a thousand times," Mrs. Nevil said.
She e-mailed a picture of Mr. Sutton and whatever other information she could find to Mr. Haex.
Mrs. Nevil also found an old slate tile from the original Ranger School building, where Mr. Sutton would have studied as a student, and sent it with her sister-in-law for his grave, where there were fresh flowers.
Mrs. Nevil sent Mr. Haex a coffee mug and Ranger School T-shirt as thanks for taking care of one of the school's own.
"He sent me a picture wearing his Ranger School T-shirt," Mrs. Nevil said. "It really is quite a circle."
On the Net
Wesley Haex: www.ouralliedheroes.nl
