Lester was buried on a temporary cemetery called "Wolfswinkel" in Son, East of Best.

After the war it was common that young people adopted a grave site of an allied who gave his live for their freedom. On of the girls who did that was Theodora Vogels (called "Dora") (above right). Right the newspaper advertising that brought the families of Lester Taylor and Dora Vogels in contact again 58 years after the war. She cared for his grave site from 1944 till 1948. In that year his remains were brought back to his hometown in Tennessee where he was reburied.
Along with these photos came this note from Betty: "Behold!! Today, I opened a box from my storage closet which has not been opened in years. Inside were some of my Mother's picture collection which came to me at her death in 1983. Among those pictures were two of the pictures that Mien sent to me of the Son Cemetery. Obviously, they had been sent to us by Dora, Mien's sister, in the 1940's. Also, among those pictures I found these of my
brother, Lester's funeral and burial in 1948 in the cemetery near our home in Tennessee. We lived in a small country home, (we did not have electricity then, not until 1949!).Many people came to his memorial service and burial.In one picture, the soldier is presenting the American Flag to my mother. In the background to the right is Lester's wife. She had remarried by this time so the flag went to my Mother. Sitting on the left is my Father, my Grandmother, Me (age
9), My Mom, My brother Carl, in the sunglasses. He was in the Navy during the war and at the time the picture was taken was a corporate pilot. He died when his plane crashed in April 1981. Why did we have the casket on the lawn at our home? I don't know! Maybe just to take a picture.....Some of my family and I are standing in the background and I'm holding a picture of Lester. The cemetery pictures include one of me standing behind the tombstone with some of my nieces and nephews. Another is of the grave site when my mother was buried there in 1983. Dad was buried there in 1961. We have Lester's picture on his tombstone."
The photo on the left I received almost 60 years after WWII from Mien Lavrijssen, the sister of the girl who cared for this grave site for 4 years.

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pictures on this page courtesy Betty Taylor.

© Peter van de Wal