Five Brothers and a War

Homecoming

Once, acting in his official duties as a member of the BS, Kees had to stand watch over a boat that had been used by the Germans in one of the canals. The real army had removed all the weapons and grenades, but wanted to come back later for further searches. They had left a flare gun, including a few flares. So, figuring no one else had any interest in them, Kees decided to snag them, either for amusement, or in case he actually needed them for their intended purpose. The fact that they were similar in a crude way to a real gun probably weighed in his decision. Combining a 19-year-old mind with anything approaching a real weapon was asking for some level of trouble, and Kees was apparently happy to provide the trouble on a silver platter. Showing off his find in their back yard, he and his friends decided it would be brilliant to fire the flare gun. As no one had ever fired a flare gun, the excitement of trying it was overwhelming, and the fact that the war had only been over for a few days did not enter into their thinking, such as it was. The fact that flares were intended to draw attention to themselves seems a simple concept to everyone except young men who had been cooped up too long. The notion that flares were not meant to be subtle was not the only thing they did not know. Another significant detail was the fact that Leendert had invited three (real) Canadian Military Police officers into the house, no doubt to try out the little he could remember of his unused English. The young men in the backyard figured that nobody would notice the swoosh a silly little flare gun would make, but were shocked when they fired the gun and it created a horrific crack, rather similar to any other gun being fired. But still, there was a beautiful flare shooting into air, leaving a bright red trail in its path. In their brief moment of admiration, they were even more shocked when they were almost instantly surrounded by three very angry (and burly) MPs. “What the hell is going on here,” they demanded to know. Kees was stunned, and frankly impressed with the suddenness of their appearance. He had no idea that any organization could be that efficient. Kees explained that he was just testing the flare gun to see if it still worked, and determined that it did. The MPs seemed not to be quite as interested in the “experiment” and promptly confiscated both gun and flares. Encouraged by the three polite Canadians, Leendert next befriended another Canadian soldier, and invited him over to the house. His name was Allan Fawcett, and he would single-handedly change the course of the van Pelt family. Leendert, like a number of other Dutch citizens, had saved a bottle of jenever (Dutch juniper-flavored alcohol from which the common English gin was derived) for liberation—a sort of “liberation libation”, as it were. Leendert opened the bottle for Allan, and in the process the family got to know the young man. The older brothers spoke English quite well, so Allan returned every day for a while, before soon being shipped home. Even after returning to Canada he wrote to thank the van Pelts for their hospitality. He even invited Leen and Piet to “come on over to Canada, as there is plenty of room here and a great need for more immigrants”, but both politely declined because they had jobs working for Bruynzeel and had intentions of soon marrying the Bender sisters, Rita and Henny.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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