19 Years of Life, 82 Years of Remembrance

OOSTERHOUT, Netherlands — Eighty-two years after 19-year-old U.S. Army paratrooper John Roderick Towle was killed fighting for Dutch freedom near Oosterhout, Netherlands, his name remains part of the community he sacrificed for.

Towle’s name is carried by a street. A monument also stands where the community gathers to remember him. Each September, Dutch and American citizens, veterans, and historians return to the site to tell his story.

“We are gathered here tonight, on September 21st, because 82 years ago a 19-year-old American soldier fought and died near this place. His name was John Roderick Towle,” said Maj. Nicholas M. Chopp, the speaker representing the U.S. Army during the Sept. 21st, 2026, ceremony commemorating Towle.

Towle, a Cleveland native who entered the Army in 1943, volunteered for the airborne and served as a bazooka gunner with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. He had already fought in North Africa and Italy before arriving in the Netherlands for Operation Market Garden.

On Sept. 21st, 1944, Nazi infantry, supported by two tanks and a half-track, attacked the sector where Towle’s company was fighting.

“Towle saw the armored vehicles moving against his unit and left his position with his bazooka,” Chopp said. “He crossed roughly 200 yards of exposed ground under enemy fire, alone, engaged both tanks, and hit them hard enough to force them to withdraw.”

Towle then turned his weapon toward a house being used as a Nazi strongpoint.

“He returned for ammunition and went forward — again, alone — moving another 125 yards to get into position against the half-track,” Chopp said. “As he knelt with his rocket launcher and prepared to fire, a Nazi mortar round struck and killed him.”

Towle was 19. He would have turned 20 less than a month later.

The Army posthumously awarded Towle the Medal of Honor for his actions, crediting him with helping halt the Nazi counterattack and protecting the soldiers fighting alongside him.

For Robert Braam, director of a local World War II history museum, Towle’s connection to Oosterhout extends beyond the actions that earned him the nation’s highest military decoration.

Braam, who studies and preserves the history of World War II between Arnhem and Nijmegen, said Towle’s actions made him one of the most prominent soldiers associated with the fighting in the area.

“His name was one of the most outstanding ones in the war out here,” Braam said.

The community first placed a plaque near the site of his death, but changes to the embankment eventually removed it. When a new street was constructed, local officials saw an opportunity to create something more permanent.

“They said we can make a new monument to honor John Towle here in the street,” Braam said.

The street itself also bears Towle’s name.

In 2019, Oosterhout named the road John R. Towlestraat. Five years later, the community unveiled the monument where the ceremony was held.

“None of the people who worked to build this monument ever knew John Towle,” Chopp said. “Many were born decades after the war ended. You had no obligation to preserve his story, yet you chose to make it part of the story of your own community.”

Continuing to remember the soldiers who fought for Dutch liberation is about more than just looking at history to Braam.

“It's important to remember who freed us from Nazi tyranny,” Braam said. “82 years later we know what freedom is, and we have to honor those soldiers so we don't go back.”

The remembrance of Operation Market Garden has become something shared across generations.

“It's important that we do this every year and involve school kids and older generations,” Braam said.

The annual ceremony also serves as a reminder of the relationship formed between the Netherlands and the United States during the war.

“The strength between our nations grows stronger with each event,” Braam said. “82 years ago, we fought the battle side by side with each other here in this area... It's amazing that we still do that today and continue to strengthen our bond into the future.”

Chopp noted that the relationship between the two countries reaches back even further than 1944, pointing to Dutch support for the United States during the American Revolution.

“In 1776, you stood with us,” Chopp said. “In 1944, we stood with you. And in 2026, we still stand together.”

The Oosterhout community continues to preserve the sacred relationship by continuing telling the story of a soldier who died for them, year after year.

“You are showing us how memory survives — one generation decides that a story is worth telling to the next,” Chopp said. “That it is important enough to carry on as part of your history; history that is shared with us.”

Today, Towle’s story is surrounded by reminders of the war he fought.

Braam brought a World War II half-track to the commemoration, giving visitors an opportunity to see the type of equipment used during the war.

“It's also important to bring these things back to the memorials and the sites to show people what it looked like to be here 82 years ago,” Braam said.

But beyond the vehicles, reenactments and battlefield sites that help tell the story of the war, Towle’s story is ultimately about a 19-year-old soldier who gave his life fighting for a country he had never called home, and a community that will forever thank him.

“John Towle gave his life here at 19 years old,” Chopp said. “The people of Oosterhout made sure his name remained here long after the fighting ended.”

The monument’s inscription describes Towle as having “fallen for our freedom.”

82 years later, his name remains on a street where a foreign community chose to never forget his name.

“For that, and for the care you continue to show for the Americans who fought in the Netherlands, you have our gratitude,” Chopp said. “Thank you for remembering John Roderick Towle. Thank you for preserving his story.”

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