Haringa Square
EDWARD HAROLD HARINGA
January 12, 1923 – April 9, 1945 (k.i.a. WW2). Age: 22
Born: Whitinsville, Massachusetts
Parents: Jacob Haringa and Bessie (a.k.a. Baukje) Postma.
Married: Harriet Leona Youngsma (1923-1996, 73 years old)
Two Children: Paul Edward Haringa, Jack Gerton Haringa (Oct. 1944 – Aug. 2006, 62 years old);
Enlisted: Fort Devens, MA June 27, 1944.Rank: Pfc., Army, 75th Infantry Division, 289th Infantry
Regiment, Company K, Service # 31471956
Killed in Action: April 9, 1945, Lutgen-Dortmund, Germany.
January 12, 1923 – April 9, 1945 (k.i.a. WW2). Age: 22
Born: Whitinsville, Massachusetts
Parents: Jacob Haringa and Bessie (a.k.a. Baukje) Postma.
Married: Harriet Leona Youngsma (1923-1996, 73 years old)
Two Children: Paul Edward Haringa, Jack Gerton Haringa (Oct. 1944 – Aug. 2006, 62 years old);
Enlisted: Fort Devens, MA June 27, 1944.Rank: Pfc., Army, 75th Infantry Division, 289th Infantry
Regiment, Company K, Service # 31471956
Killed in Action: April 9, 1945, Lutgen-Dortmund, Germany.
Brothers: Martin, Joseph, and Harold (WW2 veteran, Army Air Corps, 1919-2012.)
Sister: Theresa (Haringa) VanderZee
Member: Pleasant St. Christian Reformed Church, Whitinsville, MA
Burial: Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial
Margraten, Eijsden-Margraten Municipality, Limburg, Netherlands
Plot E, Row 2, Grave 5.
Awards: Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, American and European Theater Ribbons,
Three Battle Stars, Bronze Star Medal.
Haringa was killed close to Dortmund, Germany on April 9, 1945, 3 days before the capture of Dortmund.
At the time, his division was fighting in the 9th Army sector and was engaged in clearing the enemy from the Rhine Pocket.
To learn more about combat action seen by Haringa, click here.
The Allied ground-advance into Germany reached Dortmund in April 1945. The US 95th Infantry Division attacked the city on 12 April 1945 against a spirited German defense. The division, assisted by close air support, advanced through the ruins in urban combat and completed its capture on April 12, 1945.
Haringa is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial.
Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial (click here to learn more)
Distance from major cities to the cemetery:
Amsterdam: 155 miles
Brussels: 80 miles.
Düsseldorf: 80 miles.
Cologne: 70 miles.
The Netherlands American Cemetery is a WW2 military war grave cemetery, located in the village of Margraten, in the most southern part of the Netherlands. It is the only American cemetery in the Netherlands. It contains 8,291 American war dead, covers 65.5 acres, and is administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
The cemetery was created in November 1944. American casualties from the area, and also those that fell in Germany were buried here, as Americans could not be buried permanently in enemy territory. Within six months more than 10,000 American casualties were interred at the cemetery.
In the late 1940s the Americans started exhuming, repatriating and reburying fallen US service personnel from across the Netherlands. Over half the American dead were repatriated to the US with the rest re-interred in the expanded Margraten cemetery.
The cemetery was dedicated in 1960 and officially opened by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
Each year on the Dutch Memorial Day, commemorations take place in the cemetery. In 2005, President George W. Bush visited the cemetery. The following quote is from a speech President Bush gave that day:
“On this peaceful May morning we commemorate a great victory for liberty, and the thousands of white marble crosses and Stars of David underscore the terrible price we pay for that victory.
For the Americans who rest here, Dutch soil provides a fitting home. It was from a Dutch port that many of our pilgrim fathers first sailed for America. It was a Dutch port that gave the American flag its first gun salute. It was the Dutch who became one of the first foreign nations to recognize the independence of the new United States of America. And when American soldiers returned to this continent to fight for freedom, they were led by a President (Roosevelt) who owed his family name to this great land.”
Haringa was killed close to Dortmund, Germany on April 9, 1945, 3 days before the capture of Dortmund.
At the time, his division was fighting in the 9th Army sector and was engaged in clearing the enemy from the Rhine Pocket.
To learn more about combat action seen by Haringa, click here.
The Allied ground-advance into Germany reached Dortmund in April 1945. The US 95th Infantry Division attacked the city on 12 April 1945 against a spirited German defense. The division, assisted by close air support, advanced through the ruins in urban combat and completed its capture on April 12, 1945.
Haringa is buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial.
Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial (click here to learn more)
Distance from major cities to the cemetery:
Amsterdam: 155 miles
Brussels: 80 miles.
Düsseldorf: 80 miles.
Cologne: 70 miles.
The Netherlands American Cemetery is a WW2 military war grave cemetery, located in the village of Margraten, in the most southern part of the Netherlands. It is the only American cemetery in the Netherlands. It contains 8,291 American war dead, covers 65.5 acres, and is administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
The cemetery was created in November 1944. American casualties from the area, and also those that fell in Germany were buried here, as Americans could not be buried permanently in enemy territory. Within six months more than 10,000 American casualties were interred at the cemetery.
In the late 1940s the Americans started exhuming, repatriating and reburying fallen US service personnel from across the Netherlands. Over half the American dead were repatriated to the US with the rest re-interred in the expanded Margraten cemetery.
The cemetery was dedicated in 1960 and officially opened by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
Each year on the Dutch Memorial Day, commemorations take place in the cemetery. In 2005, President George W. Bush visited the cemetery. The following quote is from a speech President Bush gave that day:
“On this peaceful May morning we commemorate a great victory for liberty, and the thousands of white marble crosses and Stars of David underscore the terrible price we pay for that victory.
For the Americans who rest here, Dutch soil provides a fitting home. It was from a Dutch port that many of our pilgrim fathers first sailed for America. It was a Dutch port that gave the American flag its first gun salute. It was the Dutch who became one of the first foreign nations to recognize the independence of the new United States of America. And when American soldiers returned to this continent to fight for freedom, they were led by a President (Roosevelt) who owed his family name to this great land.”
S.J. Buma updated 6/19/2021
