1953

I was drafted into the (Dutch) army in 1952. That is where got my first drivers licence and I was assigned a Ford F5 truck. In 1953 one evening all weekend leave was cancelled. The reason a severe storm that broke several dikes, resulting in unprecedented flooding. Over 1600 people lost their lives, along with thousands of farm animals who floated lifeless in the flooded polders. I was sent to a town called Terneusen and I was hauling sandbags for 10 days. Our assignment was 8 hours on duty and 8 hours off. You slept whereever you could, usually you could find a haystack intact somewhere. And you ate from the many stalls by the road set up mainly by the Red Cross, and the Salvation Army: soup, sandwiches, hot chocolate and all that good stuff!

The hard part was to take a load down a muddy dike, and after unloading backing up for 3 km or so! After 10 days of this we were called to the town square to listen to a thank-you speech by the mayor, and to submit our names for an engraved plaque in our honour. I never did see my name there in the city hall, but I can tell you I was glad to be back in the home barracks for a shower and a set of clean clothes!