On Waalre soil is the only known grave of the unknown soldier in the Netherlands. Here are commemorated the men and women of Brabant who fell during or after the Second World War, died in the resistance or died in other conflicts anywhere in the world. Wednesday evening is the annual ceremony.
Since the autumn of 1945, mayors, soldiers and guilds of riflemen with standard bearers have gathered in the old Willibrorduskerk in Waalre. This makes the village one of the oldest commemorations in the country. It is also the only provincial commemoration in the Netherlands.
Panels
In the old church there are panels with the names of the victims of the German invasion of May 1940. Over the years the lists of names have grown longer and longer. Contains the names of people born in Brabant or who were recorded here when they died.
For several years there has also been a digital monument with currently 2133 names.
Christel de Laat
The Wednesday evening ceremony begins in the new Waalre church with speeches, music, Last Post and two minutes of silence. There is also always a speech from a famous man or woman. This year the comedian is Christel de Laat.
Schoolchildren tell the story of people who lived through the war. Representatives of the provinces, municipalities, armed forces, police, dioceses, embassies are always present at the ceremony and there are always veterans. At the end there are the depositions of the wreaths.
Liberation
The commemoration in Waalre is the starting signal for the great series of local commemorations for the liberation from September to November. At that time, in 1944, most of Brabant was liberated after 4.5 years of German occupation.
Those local ceremonies in the coming weeks and months will also commemorate the allied liberators and civilians who have died. This does not happen in Waalre.
Awesome stories
Of the list of 2,133 names, more than half date back to World War II. The largest group is made up of 750 men and women of the resistance. One of these is Maria van der Pol-Van der Linden. She carried out resistance work in and around Eindhoven, she was captured and killed in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. About her The tragic story of her and that of her relatives is on website of the Brabant killed in action.
Another story is that of Johanna Schouten of Bergen op Zoom dies worked as a pharmacist in the Royal Dutch East India Army (KNIL) and may have died in Sumatra during the colonial war in 1947.
mines
A victim who is also honored is Peter Mannie of Tilburg. He had been sent as a soldier to Dutch New Guinea and was ambushed by Indonesian commandos in 1962, exactly sixty years ago. There are also more recent victims, like Leon van Doremalen of Veghel. He was seriously injured at the Thai or Cambodian border while allegedly mine clearance and died.
Helicopter
Brabant also occurred mainly during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies and the colonial war that followed (1945-1949). But also in Korea, on missions in Lebanon, Bosnia and other parts of the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Mali. The youngest victim is a helicopter pilot from Brabant who died in 2015.
The list of names was carefully examined and found to be incomplete. Researchers from the BHIC in Den Bosch I’m still working on it. It features mainly fallen Brabant men, but also 18 women, especially women of the resistance.
The commemoration in Waalre will begin Wednesday evening at 6:53 pm and will be broadcast live by Omroep Brabant.
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