Frieda van Schaik is a Dutch teenager whose coming-of-age story unfolds against the backdrop of war. The daughter of botanist and cave expert Dave van Schaik, Frieda grows up in a family connected to the Dutch Resistance. While her father’s expertise aids in the protection of priceless Dutch artwork, Frieda witnesses—and eventually participates in—dangerous missions by ordinary civilians. Her point of view help readers understand the unacknowledged forms of bravery that defined the era.

Frieda’s significance evolves after the war, when she becomes a volunteer with the American Civil Affairs unit and later plays a leadership role in beautifying the Margraten cemetery. Her emotional connection with Monuments Man Captain Walter “Hutch” Huchthausen adds a poignant through-line to the narrative. After his death, Frieda’s grief becomes a microcosm of the entire Dutch-American bond. She searches Maastricht for his photograph, brings him tulips, and places her bridal bouquet on his grave. Frieda’s story captures the war’s personal costs and the restorative power of remembrance. By the book’s end, she embodies both survivor and steward, having shaped the very landscape that honors the fallen.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole was an elite American paratrooper whose military leadership and personal sacrifice underscore the valor and cost of World War II combat. Introduced early in the book as a rising star and one of the first to volunteer for the Army’s parachute units, Cole trains under General Dwight D. Eisenhower and becomes known for his discipline, toughness, and strategic mind. His desire to test himself in combat—not simply serve—drives his rise through the ranks, eventually leading him to command the 3rd Battalion of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment.

Cole’s defining moment comes during the Normandy invasion, when he leads a desperate bayonet charge through fog and gunfire to break German defenses at the causeway near Carentan. This bold, bloody maneuver secures a key road for the Allies and cements Cole’s status as a battlefield legend. But the victory is short-lived. Cole is later killed by a sniper during Operation Market Garden, a campaign ultimately deemed a failure. His story in Remember Us highlights the brutal demands of combat leadership and the fragility of life in war. Through Cole, Edsel explores the fine line between heroism and tragedy, making him a symbol of both glory and sacrifice.

Chaplain Paschal Fowlkes was an Episcopal minister from Virginia who volunteered for military service in 1942, believing that spiritual duty required physical courage in the face of tyranny. Leaving behind a wife and young children, Fowlkes trained as a US Army chaplain and was assigned to the 314th Troop Carrier Group. His presence in Remember Us serves as a moral and emotional counterpoint to the chaos of war. Fowlkes is portrayed as deeply principled, compassionate, and profoundly aware of the spiritual needs of soldiers facing unimaginable hardship.

Throughout the book, Fowlkes delivers sermons, writes thoughtful letters home, and offers support to the wounded, grieving, and dying. He believes that his job is not just to comfort soldiers, but to bear witness to their struggles and remind them of their humanity. His death—just moments after parachuting into enemy territory during Operation Varsity—marks one of the book’s most tragic turning points. Fowlkes was unarmed, jumping with his men out of loyalty and shared risk. Afterward, his widow receives his personal effects, including a letter he carried close to his heart. Fowlkes’s story illustrates the intersection of faith, service, and loss, and offers a moving meditation on the cost of spiritual leadership in wartime.

Jefferson Wiggins was a Black teenager from the Jim Crow South who enlisted in the US Army to escape racial oppression and poverty. Born in Alabama, Wiggins witnessed brutal racism firsthand—including near-lynchings and daily humiliation—and viewed military service as a path to dignity and personal agency. In Remember Us, his journey from a segregated community to the European theater underscores the deeply unequal experience of Black Americans during World War II.

Wiggins was assigned to the 960th Quartermaster Service Company, a segregated unit that expected to handle supplies but was instead ordered to perform burial duties at the Margraten cemetery. With no training and under grueling conditions, Wiggins and his fellow soldiers dug graves in mud and freezing rain, interring thousands of white soldiers whose names they often never learned. Wiggins’s emotional growth is marked by moments of human kindness—such as receiving his first library card in Staten Island—and by his spiritual endurance amid institutional injustice.

After the war, Wiggins dedicated his life to education and remembrance. His role in Remember Us is crucial, as it personalizes the narrative of racial inequality and reveals how those often relegated to the margins bore some of the war’s heaviest burdens with quiet courage and lasting grace.

Bill Hughes was a young Black man from Indianapolis whose life was shaped by both his musical talent and his limited opportunity to express it. As a saxophonist, Hughes hoped to escape the confines of segregation through performance. World War II offered him an unexpected path: Drafted into the all-Black 784th Tank Battalion after several deferments, Hughes entered the Army at a time when Black soldiers were often excluded from frontline roles and subjected to systemic discrimination.

In Remember Us, Hughes’s experience highlights the contradictions of fighting for a country that denied him full citizenship. Despite enduring racism and substandard conditions during training, Hughes became a respected radio operator in a combat unit, eventually seeing combat in Europe. He participated in major operations, including the Battle of Sevelen and the crossing of the Rhine. The loss of his comrade Curley Ausmer to friendly fire exemplifies the randomness and injustice of death in war.

Hughes’s story also represents those who served with distinction despite never being fully recognized. His courage, professionalism, and humanity enrich Edsel’s broader themes and the overlooked contributions of Black Americans in the fight for freedom abroad and justice at home.

Stephen Mosbacher was a Jewish émigré from Nuremberg who fled Nazi Germany with his family and later returned to Europe as a US Army intelligence officer. Trained as one of the Ritchie Boys—an elite group of German-speaking interrogators—Mosbacher served with Patton’s 3rd Army and later the 8th Armored Division. His unique background gave him both linguistic skill and a strong moral compass, which he channeled into interrogations, cultural bridging, and acts of compassion.

In Remember Us, Mosbacher stands out for his deep empathy and sense of responsibility. He advocates for civilian welfare in bombed-out German towns, forms close bonds with Dutch families, and searches for news of relatives lost to Nazi persecution. His final days are marked by danger, exhaustion, and heroism: While trying to rescue a wounded comrade during a surprise counterattack, Mosbacher’s jeep is struck by enemy fire, killing him.

His death devastates both his family and the Dutch hosts, who saw him as a son. Through Mosbacher, Edsel explores themes of displacement, belonging, and the haunting complexity of identity in wartime.