On Waalrese soil is the only grave of the unknown soldier that we know in the Netherlands. Here the men and women from Brabant are commemorated who fell during or after the Second World War, died in the resistance or died in other conflicts anywhere in the world. Wednesday night is the annual ceremony.
Since the autumn of 1945, mayors, soldiers and riflemen’s guilds with standard bearers have been meeting at 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 victims, from the German invasion in May 1940. Over the years the lists of names became longer and longer. It contains the names of people who were born in Brabant or who were registered here when they died.
For several years there is also a digital monument with currently 2133 names.
Christel de Laat
The ceremony on Wednesday evening starts in the new church in Waalre with speeches, music, the Last Post and two minutes of silence. There is also always a speech by a famous man or woman. This year the comedian is Christel de Laat.
Schoolchildren tell the story of people who have experienced war. At the ceremony there are always representatives of the province, municipalities, armed forces, police, diocese, embassies and there are always veterans. At the end there are wreath layings.
Liberation
The commemoration in Waalre is the starting signal for the large series of local liberation commemorations from September to November. In that period 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 died. That doesn’t happen in Waalre.
Impressive stories
Of the list of 2133 names, more than half date from the Second World War. The largest group is formed by 750 resistance men and women. One of them is Maria van der Pol-Van der Linden. She did resistance work in and around Eindhoven, was caught and murdered in Ravensbrück concentration camp. Her tragic story and that of her relatives is on the website of the Brabant killed in action.
Another story is that of Johanna Schouten from Bergen op Zoom die worked as a pharmacist in the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL) and may have died in Sumatra during the colonial war in 1947.
Mines
A victim who is also honored is Peter Mannie from 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, such as Leon van Doremalen from Veghel. He was seriously injured at the Thai or Cambodian border while allegedly clearing mines and died.
Helicopter
Brabant deaths 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 thoroughly researched and found to be incomplete. Researchers of the BHIC in Den Bosch still working on it. It mainly features fallen Brabant men, but also 18 women, especially resistance women.
The commemoration in Waalre starts on Wednesday evening at 6.53 pm and will be broadcast live by Omroep Brabant.