A caring husband and wife have adopted the grave of a war hero from Stalybridge who is buried in a war cemetery in the Netherlands.

John Esser and his wife Sharon care for the grave of Private Fred Dale who died on February 4, 1945 and is buried in Nederweert War Cemetery, not far from Eindhoven.

John, 53, and his wife Sharon, 35, live in Kerkrade in the south of the Netherlands, near the border with Germany and the city of Aachen. 

John said he became fascinated with an American War Cemetery which was near his childhood home and wanted to know more about the soldiers buried there.

He said: “As a kid in school in history you always heard the stories of World War Two and learned that we owe our freedom to the Allied troops. 

“Not far from where we lived in Margraten there is an American War Cemetery, which we often visited as young kids and I remember how impressing that was, row after row of white crosses. 

“As I grew older I was even more impressed by the often young ages of the soldiers and it seemed unbelievable that they gave their life for our freedom.”

John said he heard about an adoption programme which allowed residents to look after the graves and place memorials on them at certain times of year, such as anniversaries and other important dates.

He added: “When you adopt a grave you promise to lay flowers on it on special occasions, such as their day of death or birthday. 

“You also pledge to find out as much information on the buried soldier as possible, to tell their story, keep it alive and bring a face to the grave to honour them. That’s what we wanted to do. The problem was that all the graves (thousands) were adopted and there even is a waiting list. They have even brought out a book with all the stories of the soldiers.”

John said that he and his wife then heard about another adoption programme which was started in Nederweert and Venray in the Netherlands. 

He told us: “We wrote a request for adoption and in 2020 we were allowed to adopt the grave of Private Fred Dale. The only information we got was his service number 11263654, regiment and unit: Durham Light Infantry 9th BN, date of death February 4, 1945 and that he was buried at Nederweert War Cemetery.”

The couple then decided to look into Pte Dale’s past to see what they could find about his background. They contacted various online forums on Forces of War and a Durham Light Infantry site, but without much luck.

In the meantime, John and Sharon were given permission to adopt a grave in Venray War Cemetery of Trooper John William Roe of the Royal Tank Regiment the 5th; and they also adopted two graves of American soldiers laid to rest in Henry Chapelle War Cemetery in Belgium. They also looked into their past to see what they could find, which resulted in them contacting the soldiers’ relatives.

But they didn’t give up on Pte Dale and eventually discovered a post from Paul van de Winkel from Posterholt on a World War Two online site that Pte Dale was first buried in the Dutch cemetery in Posterholt and later moved to Nederweert.

John said someone else was then able to add some more information on Pte Dale. 

He explained: “A man called Henk Penders had seen a post from me on the Durham Light Infantry site and offered to help me with my search. 

“He found quite a lot information for me. He requested Fred’s will and found interesting information on his wife and where they lived. 

“He also contacted the Tameside Archives and they sent him a newspaper cutting of his death and it said that he had a 16-month-old son and that his relatives lived in Stalybridge. Henk Penders has even made a page of honour for Fred Dale as he freed his town of Dieteren, which is also in the Netherlands.”

The couple put requests out on Facebook to find out more information and discovered the great nephew of Pte Dale who lives in Manchester.

John added: “We are very happy we’ve found a living relative so they know we care about their loved ones. We hope we can stay in contact for a long time and learn a lot more about our hero Fred Dale who gave all for our freedom. Lest we forget.”

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