HEERLEN, LIMBURG - MAY 22: Theo Stienen, left, Beth-Ann Palment

HEERLEN, LIMBURG - MAY 22: Theo Stienen, left, Beth-Ann Palmento, second, Irene Stienen, third, and Gennaro "Jerry" Palmento, far right, pose for a photo taken by the Stienen's granddaughter Maureen Butink at the home of Irene and Theo Stienen on May 22, 2015 in Heerlen, Limburg. Irene and Theo Stienen are a Dutch family who have adopted the grave site of American soldier Jerry Palmetto, of Connecticut, who died in action during World War II and is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten. Jerry was one-and-half years old, living in Waterbury, Conn., when his father, also named Jerry Palmento, a machine gunner, was killed in Alsdorf, Germany in November 1944 when he was standing in a field and hit by German artillery fire in World War II. His father was buried in 1949 at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, home to more than 8,000 U.S. servicemen killed in the war. Jerry remembers learning that his father was buried overseas in the Netherlands at around age 10. At some point in his 20s, he learned that a family had adopted his father's headstone, but he didn't investigate or pursue the family's identity. Jerry didn't make his first trip to the cemetery until 1998. But it wasn't until 2005 when he only accidentally got interested in learning the names of the Dutch family that adopted his father's headstone. That's when he saw he his local community gazette and an article about his neighbor visiting his own father's grave at Margraten. The neighbor told Jerry about the cemetery's adoption committee and soon Jerry got the name of his family. Jerry and the Dutch family started writing each other letters/emails around 2007. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)