Remember Us: American Sacrifice, Dutch Freedom, and a Forever Promise Forged in World War II

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Amazon Editor's Pick

"An intimate, moving look at the war that extracts deep meaning from the carnage and loss." - Publishers Weekly

What happens when you lose your freedom and the people who eventually get it back for you are no longer alive to thank?

Remember Us, by Robert Edsel--#1 New York Times bestselling author of The Monuments Men--begins in the pre-dawn hours of Hitler's invasion of Western Europe on May 10, 1940, when his forces rolled into the small rural province of Limburg in the Netherlands shattering more than 100 years of peace. Their freedom gone, the Dutch lived through four-and-a-half years of occupation until American forces reached Limburg in September 1944, the last portion of Western Europe liberated by the Allies before their advance on Nazi Germany slammed to a halt.

Like The Monuments Men, Remember Us is an ensemble piece that follows twelve main characters over a six-year span, zeroing in on ordinary people including Frieda van Schäik, a teenager who falls in love with an American soldier; Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole, the first member of the 101st Airborne to receive the Medal of Honor; and Sergeant Jeff Wiggins of the 960th Quartermaster Service Company, who escaped the poverty and racism of Alabama for yet another indignity--digging graves.

Drawing on never-before-seen letters, diaries, and other historical records, Edsel shows the painful price of freedom, on the battlefields and inside American homes. In this rich, dramatic, and suspenseful story, he captures both the horrors of war and the transcendent power of gratitude, showing the extraordinary measures the Dutch have taken to thank their liberators. Remember Us is exactly the book we need--a reminder that grief is universal, that humanity knows no national or racial boundaries, and that we all want to be remembered, somehow, someway, by somebody.

Robert M. Edsel is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of four non-fiction books including Rescuing da Vinci, Saving Italy, and The Monuments Men (also with Bret Witter), which served as the basis for Academy Award recipient George Clooney's 2014 film. Mr. Edsel has been honored with the Texas Medal of the Arts; the President's Call to Service Award; the Hope for Humanity Award, presented by the Dallas Holocaust Museum; and the Foundation for the National Archives' Records of Achievement Award. In 2022, the United States Army and the Smithsonian Institution made Mr. Edsel an honorary graduate of the first Army Monuments Officer Training Program, an idea Mr. Edsel advocated for nearly twenty years. Mr. Edsel is also the Founder and Chairman of the Monuments Men and Women Foundation, recipient of the National Humanities Medal, awarded by President George W. Bush.