Five brothers from Newton served simultaneously in the Armed Services of the United States during World War II. 
Jim Lovett died in Europe on August 13, 1944 and William Lovett on May 3, 1945.
The family lost track of them; no one seemed to know exactly where they were buried, and no matter how they tried, the family was unable to find out. Family lore held that they were interred somewhere in Germany, but reliable information seemed impossible to obtain. Flash forward more than 50 years to Nov. 4, 1998. Raymond V. Morgan, vice president of sales and marketing for Barton Nelson Inc., a manufacturer of sales promotional products based in Kansas City, Missouri, writes a letter addressed to the city clerk of Newton: 

Dear Geraldine: This will confirm our conversation of today. Our factory in Tegelen, Holland, Netherlands, is managed by one of the greatest people an earth. On his recent visit to our Kansas City headquarters, Gerard van Stratum relayed an interesting story about his wife, Leinie, and himself. 
In appears that his community has adopted graves of American soldiers in "Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial", Margraten, Holland, and he and his wife have cared for two graves for more than 40 years. Their regular visits assure that things are neatly trimmed, flowers placed on a regular basis and both American and Holland flags posted on special occasions. The attached photographs show his wife at this year's Memorial Day remembrance. Thinking that these men might still have families who would like to know that these graves are being taken care of, we started a search through the red tape of the Department of the Army and Veterans Affairs.
The result was that we have more information than they do. Now we turn to you.
 

William C Lovett, Serial Number 34-130-898. Entered the Army on June 19, 1941, died May 3, 1945. State of residence, Mississippi, town (possibly Newton). Private First Class, 6th Reconnaisance Squad, 6th Division. Decorations Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster. Location of death, European Theater, May 3, 1945. Grave LotJ-8-22. 

Jim J. Lovett, Serial Number 34-636-858. Entered the Army on July 3, 1943, died August 13, 1944. State of Residence Mississippi, town (possibly Newton). Private, 8th Infantry, 4th Division. Decorations, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart. Location of death, European Theater, August 13, 1944. Grave LotJ-8-21. 

One of the complications of obtaining information is that the National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, Missouri, states records may have been destroyed by a fire on July 12, 1973.
Certainly if these were relatives of ours, we would appreciate knowing this story. Anything you can do to assist in this effort would be appreciated. Raymond V. Morgan

The letter was turned over to The Newton Record to see what could be done to locate relatives and pass the information along to them. "The whole town just sort of adopted the cemetery," Morgan said in a telephone interview. "I didn't even know about it until he (van Stratum) told me about it, and I go over there every year." What small amount of information known about the two Lovetts required years to assemble. "They've been having a difficult time finding out whatever they can, and they've been doing this for many years.
They just thought someone might want to know that the graves are being taken care of," Morgan said.
A notice was placed in The Newton Record to see who might know something about the Lovetts. Information began to come in, some by mail and some by phone, but the process was slow. Weeks, sometimes months, could go by without anything new turning up, and after a time the information stopped. But not before fax copies of military records, photocopies of newspaper clippings, and other information arrived.
The parents of the Lovett boys were James and Bertha Gail (James) Lovett They resided in the Sweetwater community southeast of Newton for a time, and later, James Lovett bought some land just off US. 80 between Clarke College and Newton and the family lived there. There were 10 children in all: the five who served in the military plus three additional brothers-Vardaman, John and Tom, and two sisters Maude (Lovett) Bishop and Lexie (Lovett) McGee. 

Only one of the children is still living, John Lovett. He is retired and still lives in his own home in Hattiesburg. John filled in some of the missing information about his brothers who served in the armed forces. He was only 12 at the time World War II started, and he said there is a great deal he doesn't know. "One of them Roscoe-came back and lived almost a year after he was discharged from the service," John Lovett said. "I'm not real sure, but I think he had appendicitis and it ruptured before we could get him to the hospital."
Another brother died while in the service, though not of service-related causes. "Charlie was getting ready to retire from the service," John said. "
He only had about three months left to serve and he died from a heart attack just before he could retire from the Army."
Lisa Roebuck, who works in purchasing at Newton Regional Hospital, is related to the Lovetts, who were her great uncles. "My grandmother, Maud Lovett, often wondered what had become of the two brothers who died in Europe," she said. "
They had been told several different things. Once she was told the two brothers had been buried somewhere in Germany in a mass grave. Another time someone said one of them went down with a ship that sank. They could never get any direct answers."
Neither of these rumors turned out to be true, but that still didn't bring the family any closer to knowing where in Europe the two brothers were interred. Roebuck said Maude Lovett died in 1987 without ever finding out where the graves were located. She had talked about her brothers often during her life. Roebuck's father, Kent Bishop, was in the Army for a time, and while stationed in Germany, he attempted to no avail to find out where the brothers' graves were located. In the 53-year interim between the deaths of two of the Lovetts and the family's discovery of the site of their graves, a town in Holland called Margraten had adopted a local military cemetery, and Gerard and Leinie van Stratum helped to care for two adjacent gravesites in that cemetery.