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Dear Friends,
As 2025 comes to a close, I want to pause and simply say thank you for being a part of this extraordinary year.
It has been one of the most meaningful of my life.
With your support, Remember Us became a New York Times bestseller, reached readers across the United States and the Netherlands, and sparked conversations I never imagined when I first began this journey. I also had the privilege of returning again and again to the Netherlands American Cemetery—a place that continues to teach us about gratitude.
This momentum also helped the Monuments Men and Women Foundation launch the Forever Promise Project, with our Dutch partner, the Foundation for Adopting Graves at the American Cemetery in Margraten (Stichting Adoptie Graven Amerikaanse Begraafplaats Margraten). The project fulfills the original vision of the founders of the Margraten Grave adoption program: connecting American families with the Dutch grave adopters who have long honored their fallen loved ones. These moments have been the most rewarding parts of this year.
This years also marked important progress, as we:
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Launched transformative new partnerships with Ancestry, Bank of America, Philips, and others
- And continued carrying the Monuments Men’s legacy forward
Whether you attended an event, shared the book with a friend, wrote a review, sent a note of encouragement, or quietly followed along—please know that your support matters more than you realize.
Below is a look back at just a few of the moments you helped make possible this year.
As we move into 2026, the mission remains the same, but the reach is growing. More stories to uncover. More connections to make. More promises to keep.
Until then, I am wishing you and your family a very happy and healthy New Year!
With heartfelt thanks,
Robert
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More than 8,000 American heroes rest at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten. When we launched the Forever Promise Project, we set out to fulfill a mission 80 years in the making: to connect the families of those fallen service members with the Dutch individuals who care for their graves. Media visibility helps us to fulfill that mission!
Special thanks to Greg McQuade - WTVR CBS 6 and the WTVR CBS 6 News team for sharing this segment. Every time this story is told, it helps spark new connections.
| 📚 Remember Us: A Year of Unforgettable Milestones
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How Remember Us Found Me
When Monuments Man Harry Ettlinger and I visited the grave of Walter Huchthausen at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten in 2012, I had no idea that quiet moment would one day lead to the publication of Remember Us, and the creation of the Forever Promise Project.
I could not have imagined that a single question, asked years later, would open the door to so many lives, stories, and connections:
“Have you heard of the Margraten grave adoption program?”
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Meet the Heroes of Remember Us
At its heart, Remember Us is about people—ordinary individuals bound together by extraordinary courage, sacrifice, and gratitude. Their stories intersect through an enduring promise—a forever promise—to remember.
As their lives unfolded on the pages, several memorable moments followed with the launch of Remember Us, including:
Visit my blog to discover the single question that led me to this story, meet the heroes, and explore an 80-year legacy of gratitude.
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📺 Reaching Millions Through Media
From national television to print features, Remember Us reached millions of households through national and international media coverage.
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Highlights included:
Each interview helped bring these stories of courage, loss, and gratitude to a wider audience.
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📖🎤Book Tour & Speaking Engagements
Speaking with audiences at standing-room-only events in 20+ cities across the U.S. and the Netherlands has been one of my greatest joys this year.
In 2026, I hope to devote more time to speaking engagements with organizations, institutions, and communities interested in stories of service and remembrance.
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Through powerful partnerships supporting the Forever Promise Project, we have taken major steps forward!
This year marked the launch of major new collaborations, including partnerships with:
Thanks to these generous supporters, we’re working together to expand our efforts to connect ALL 10,000 American families of the fallen buried or memorialized at Margraten, with the Dutch citizens who’ve adopted their loved ones’ graves.
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The Legacy of the Monuments Men & Women Lives On
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The Monuments Men and Women Foundation has once again demonstrated the power of vigilance, teamwork, and goodwill in protecting cultural treasures stolen during World War II. Thanks to a handful of tips received through our Art Leads program, our team was able to halt the sale of two 17th-century oil paintings attributed to Dutch master Ambrosius Bosschaert at an auction in Newark, Ohio.
Each discovery renews my hope that treasures still missing will one day return home. If you have information about cultural objects that may have been stolen during WWII, please reach out to us through our Art Leads program. Together, we can write this final chapter of WWII history.
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I was honored to deliver closing remarks during a discussion about Ukraine’s cultural heritage. These treasures are part of our shared heritage, and it’s up to all of us to help safeguard them.
The Monuments Men and Women showed us what’s possible when nations unite to protect culture in the face of destruction—a lesson that matters now more than ever.
Thank you to the Atlantic Council and The Antiquities Coalition for including me in this conversation.
| | Moments of Remembrance in the Netherlands | | |
From the Memorial Day ceremony in May to the Liberation Concert in September, this year’s visits to the Netherlands American Cemetery were deeply moving. The gratitude of the Dutch people, their care for these soldiers, and the living promise of remembrance make Margraten a place that holds a special place in my heart.
One of the most unforgettable moments this year began with the Forever Promise Project, when June West Brandt reached out after seeing an op-ed I had written in the Houston Chronicle.
June had been a young girl when her brother was killed in World War II; his name is inscribed on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery. She had never known about the Dutch grave adoption program but wondered if someone in the Netherlands had been caring for her brother’s memory.
Working with our Dutch partners, we located her brother’s adopters, and a few weeks later, her daughter Allison traveled to Margraten — where I had the privilege of joining her as she met the family who had adopted her uncle's grave.
I look forward to returning in 2026, continuing this work, and witnessing more of these remarkable connections firsthand.
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🎤 On the Road: From Mississippi to Manhattan to Margraten. Oh What a Year it Was!
📸 Photos from the road captured moments I’ll never forget, and I hope you’ll enjoy seeing them too.
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Nearly 80 years ago, a promise was made in the Netherlands by citizens who adopted the graves of American soldiers who died liberating their homeland during World War II. That promise was simple but powerful: to remember and care for these fallen heroes as if they were their own.
Since then, thousands of Dutch families have honored that promise. But only a small percentage have ever been able to connect with the American families of the soldiers they so lovingly honor.
Today, through the Forever Promise Project, we have the opportunity to change that.
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