Five Brothers and a War

Postscript: Pieter “Piet” van Pelt (1921-1979)

In early April, 1979, Kees and his family travelled from Canada and California to attend Dirk and Jeanne van der Lecq’s golden wedding anniversary. One evening they went to Piet and Henny’s house at Heliotrooplaan 2 in Den Haag for coffee. As soon as Kees entered the house, he knew something was wrong. Piet was dejected to the point of depression. He quickly relayed that he had been to the doctor earlier that day for x-rays on his lungs, and the doctor discovered unexplained spots that would have to be biopsied. Kees encouraged him that spots do not always mean cancer. But Piet had been a smoker for a very long time, and the diagnosis was cancer. Piet would have only about six months to live. He decided that he wanted to be with his family for his last days, so he and Henny packed up and left Holland for the last time. He died on October 18, 1979, about three weeks shy of his 58 th birthday.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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