Five Brothers and a War

Bertus Says Goodbye to His Dad

After Leendert, Marie, Jan, Immie, Kees, Paul and Simon came to see Bert off, Leendert said: “I’ll see you on Wednesday” which was the day that the unit was to board the Johan van Oldenbarneveld— an old passenger liner that had been converted to being a troop carrier. When Bert reminded him that he wouldn’t be allowed on the pier, he repeated that he would be there. Bert didn’t believe it.

Bertus departs for his three-year stint in the Dutch army—headed for the anti-independence action in Indonesia. In this photo, from left to right, Leendert, Bertus, Paul Westerhof, Marie, Immie Tadema, Kees, Jan, Simon Duinker. Wednesday came and after Bert had boarded, he and a buddy were roaming about the ship, as many other troops were still checking in. They were standing on the upper deck. Down at the pier he saw two people walking toward the ship. One of them was in uniform, the other a civilian. As they came closer, it became clear that the one in uniform was a general and then he noticed that the civilian was his father. His collar was done up high as it was very cold. Bert ran down the stairs to where he had boarded and told the corporal or sergeant that he would like to get off, saying, “That’s my dad there. Come on, let me off!” But permission was not forthcoming. His dad noticed him and spoke to the officer, who then in turn spoke to a captain, who then quickly came up the gangplank and allowed him off board. Leendert was the ONLY civilian on the pier. Bert said, “Papa how did you get in?” He replied, “I told you on Sunday I would see you Wednesday” as he wiped the drip from his nose that was customarily there when it was so cold. They spoke for a while, and then

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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