My Story 14

To me, the service in the army was in many respects an eye-opener. In my previous, rather sheltered existence, I was never exposed to the filthy language that was common there. And the filthy lifestyles. And not to mention the absolute authority of any one ranking above you, no matter how stupid they were! You had to find a defense mechanism that worked for you. For instance, a drill sergeant yelling at the top of his voice standing two inches away, I learned to pretend that he was yelling at the guy behind me. Or concentrating on something like:,"I wonder if his Mommy thought he was cute". Or, "I bet that this is over by the time I can count to thirty!" Indifference is a great defense. I was good at that. At least on the outside.

After I had been discharged in 1954 I visited the barracks a few months later, and quickly gathered a bunch of new recruits around me. "Are you that rock-hard guy (Kei harde kerel) that lets nothing bother you?" They had been telling stories about me. I was deeply honoured and shared some of my techniques. Other than that I am no different from anybody else.

In 1953 Holland was hit by a severe storm. All military leaves were canceled and we were activated to haul sandbags in the flood areas. I was sent to Zeeland, the town of Terneuzen. I hauled sandbags from the dunes to where the dikes were broken. Sometimes I had to drive over a narrow mud topped dike, unload, and with no place to turn around, back up three or four miles, in the dark, often. Actually, our shifts were eight hours on, eight hours off. In the off time, we slept in a hay stack, ate at one of the Red Cross stalls, or at the Salvation Army. No place to shower and no change of clothes. You know, after a while you don't really care. Others were assigned to pull dead cows out of the flooded fields.

Later we heard that 1600 people died in that storm. Before we left Terneusen we listened to a speech from the mayor. I forgot what he said. He thanked us, I suppose. One thing that I do remember though; they took all our names to be engraved in a plaque for a memorial. I never did get to go back to see it.

When we were ordered back, we drove past the house of one of the drivers. It was a very large stately mansion. Most of us were so exhausted that we just crashed anywhere in the house and had a good sleep. The following day we drove the remaining kilometers back to the home barracks and things got back to normal.