Five Brothers and a War

The End

This is a story about five brothers who, along with their parents, endured a war. A war that cost more than 60,000,000 people their lives. Yet, the war ended and the family survived. In that sense, the story ended, and so too does this book. Which is not to say that the war really ended when the hostilities between nations ended because the events of the years 1940-1945 forever shaped the lives of those who survived. The events of those five years shaped the minds and characters of the five young van Pelt men, which then had a major influence in molding the lives of their children, their children’s children, and so on. So this is a story that has no end. Leendert and Marie had five boys. Those five in turn each married, totaling 10 sons and daughters-in-law. Combined, they had 14 children, with 12 spouses. The size of the family to this point is 36. Leendert and Marie have 28 great-grandchildren and another 15 great-grandchildren-in-law. Those great grandchildren have 18 children—so far. So the total progeny of Leendert and Marie’s marriage is currently 97. Remarkably, only one of Leendert and Marie’s descendants has died before his or her parents. In that case, a newborn twin daughter of Maria Geertruida “Marijke” (van Pelt) Ford (

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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