Enkhuizer war veteran Klaas Appel (101) passed away: “He still had many plans”

Granddaughter Heidie Mulder, who herself also works in the army, talks fondly about her grandfather. “He was a tough man. A fighter, with his heart on his tongue. He has been through so much. He lost his youngest daughter. But he always looked forward to things and had many plans.”

For example, this year he wanted to go to the commemoration of the battle of Ypenburg, which took place on May 10, 1940. “He said to me: ‘You do keep May 10 free in your agenda, don’t you?’ I always went there with him, he was really looking forward to that. And he was also busy with his senior holiday with care in Doorn. Then he also wanted to go to the Veterans Institute again,” says Heidie.

‘Heard bullets flying past me’

Klaas Appel still remembered the battle of Ypenburg as if it were yesterday. Then as a young man of 19. He was stationed in Delft because of the military service. In 2019 he already told NH Nieuws about the moment in the early morning of May 10 when he stepped outside because he could not sleep.

“I saw dark dots on the horizon. They got bigger and bigger. Suddenly small dots fell down. There the bombs exploded on barracks where we had been stationed a few weeks before. Then I heard the bullets fly past my head. “

In 2019 was he honored for his efforts. But he didn’t feel like a hero then. “I think I went to the toilet at least four times from the excitement before I got into the truck. I was a shit thrush, nothing no hero. But you just had to go, do what you had to do.”

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His passion for the commemorations and meetings with other veterans was far from self-evident, says granddaughter Heidie. “He never talked about the war, he also had many negative memories of it. Also in his dealings with officers. But especially about everything he had seen. He had nightmares about that until the very end of his life.”

But when Heidie went into service, he did start to say something. “Especially about the camaraderie. I finally forced him to take him to the memorial. Then a colonel (Rob van Zanten) came to him. He asked if he could push my grandfather’s wheelchair. Grandpa was very surprised about that. “That a bigwig would do such a thing,” he said.”

Military procession to Enkhuizen

It resulted in great conversations and contacts. And so he liked to come there. Last year there was even a military procession of 26 vehicles especially for him to Enkhuizen. “He really enjoyed that,” said Heidie.

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Earlier this year Klaas Appel was hit by corona, but survived. “That probably weakened him even more. Last Saturday he was hospitalized again. The doctors said his heart was out,” Heidie says.

The family all came by, so that they could say goodbye in a beautiful way. “He was still so bright. He was also very worried about the war in Ukraine. ‘People never learn from it,’ he always said. He was also very modern, tried to move with the times and still followed everything I think he also knew he was going to die. He died on the day he was exactly 101.5 years old.”

Klaas Appel’s funeral is next Monday. And of course the intention is to create a military guard of honor there as well.

Also view the report that NH Nieuws made with Klaas Appel in 2019.