Outskirts Press, INC.

“He was all I had left.” —Mother of SGT William Dierauer, KIA 11/29/44

They rest in a distant land they fought to liberate nearly 70 years ago, their lives ended by war and their stories quieted by time. For 38 New Hampshire World War Two soldiers buried in Belgium, their stories are brought to life once again in The Granite Men of Henri-Chapelle. As WWII drew to an end in 1945, the New Hampshire state legislature adopted “Live Free or Die” as the state’s motto. At the same time, many families throughout the Granite state and the rest of the country prepared to welcome home their service members who had fought to preserve freedom around the world. Thirty-eight New Hampshire servicemen, however, would not be returning home. Instead, they remained in Europe, resting permanently at the sprawling 57-acre American military cemetery called Henri-Chapelle in Belgium. These are not war stories. They are an attempt to illustrate each civilian life before the war as well as capture the essence of the person behind the military rank—to allow each one an opportunity to share his life once again, a life he sacrificed in the pursuit of liberty for his fellow man. As New Hampshire’s statesman Daniel Webster stated on his deathbed in 1852, “I still live.” So too do the men of Henri-Chapelle in this touching and important new book.