Five Brothers and a War

Postscript: Cornelis (“Kees”) van Pelt

When Leendert died, Wim Bruynzeel saw Kees in his air force uniform and told him that if he could get out of the armed forces, he had a job waiting for him. Kees got out of the air force and in January 1948, Kees began working for Bruynzeel—a job he kept for two years. Then he managed a ladder store in Den Haag. Even years after the war ended, Holland was still in shambles, particularly in the housing sector. The number of housing units available was far short of those required. As a result, many Dutch citizens were moving out of the country. The two choices at the top of a lot of lists were Australia and Canada. As Kees was by now engaged to Flora, they discussed the options, and Australia seemed to be a better choice because they had the impression that Canada was cold pretty much throughout the year. In the meantime, Allan Fawcett, the Canadian soldier who befriended the van Pelts shortly after the liberation of Den Haag had worked to assist Kees in emigrating to Canada.

Where Allan had encouraged both Leen and Piet to consider moving, Kees was the one who became serious about it. Having been educated about Canadian weather, and recognizing that Canada is very much closer to Holland than Australia, plans were made for Kees and Flora to travel through New York City to Toronto immediately after the wedding. And so it was. The wedding took place July 27, 1951 and the ship left Rotterdam just after midnight on September 14.

van Pelt

Kees and Flora’s Wedding, July 27, 1951. l-r: Emmy van der Lecq, Kees, Flora, Ada van der Lecq, in Den Haag.

Five Brothers and a War

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