For Sturre, the commemoration will be an emotional event, he thinks. “I was in Bosnia, in Simin Han. And when I was there, it was pretty quiet, but the group that came after came from Assen.”
Jeffrey Broere was killed in a mortar attack on that mission. “Despite the fact that I didn’t know Jeffrey personally, it did affect me. Later on I also worked with people in Assen, from that battalion. As a result, I developed quite a bond with these guys.”
But not only the war in Bosnia is something that will play a role at Sturre during the commemoration. “My father passed away two years ago and during his funeral I heard the story he experienced during the Second World War,” Sturre recalls. “A school was hit during a bombing raid on Nijmegen. Children died as a result. But my father was sick at home and survived. My grandfather also managed to remove the wounded. So yes, I do have some common ground with the Second World War. .”
In addition to the emotional event, Sturre also sees it as a beautiful get-together. “No one knows each other during the honorary ceremony, but you have an immediate bond with each other. From the Veterans Institute they try to establish a broad group of veterans during the honorary ceremony.”