95-year-old Henk Verhagen from Den Bosch was in his early twenties when he was sent to Indonesia as a conscript to Indonesia, which was then still called the Dutch East Indies. His niece writes down his stories about that time and arranged a meeting with his famous fellow townsman and fellow veteran Marco Kroon. “Should I jump to attention?” Verhagen beams. Kroon takes his hand and says, “We belong to the same family.”
Verhagen served in 1948 during the Second Police Action. The Republic of Indonesia had declared itself independent, but the Netherlands did not recognize this and saw it as an uprising that had to be acted upon.
Verhagen experienced indescribable violence with it. His battalion came under fire on almost every patrol. Comrades perished. They were shot, beheaded, knifed and tied to a post.
On the Dutch side, soldiers also used a lot of violence. “It was said that there was no prison,” which meant that every prisoner should be killed. More than seventy years later, memories of that terrible time have hardly faded.”
The war lasted from 1945 to 1949. More than 100,000 people were probably killed on the Indonesian side. The Dutch armed forces lost about 5,000 lives, including many Indonesian men. It infuriates Verhagen, to this day.
“It is better not to think too much about those horrors.”
When Kroon enters his apartment, Verhagen leans on his walker with his left hand. The Dutch East Indies veteran straightens his back and brings his right hand – as best he can – to his temple. Kroon was sent as a commando to Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan and received a high decoration, the Military William Order.
When asked what Verhagen would like to know from Kroon, he remains silent for a moment: “We have both been through a lot. Major Kroon has quite a bit more than I have.” Kroon shakes his head and wants to say something, but Verhagen continues unperturbed. “It is better not to think too much about those horrors.”
“It’s no shame for a veteran to show emotions.”
“Don’t think about it, that’s a nice theory… how does that work in practice?” Kroon wants to know. “It’s no shame for a veteran to show emotions. I cry regularly and talking about it helps.”
Verhagen nods. He says that after his military service he started working as a debt collector. He went from door to door on his bicycle to collect money for used electricity. “I cycled 7000 kilometers a year. My GP had told me to get rid of bad memories along the way. In the deepest ditches of Brabant I have left my darkest experiences.”
The two men are more than forty years apart, but decades are effortlessly bridged in the conversations about war and trauma. “Comradeship is timeless”, says Kroon.