The Journey to Freedom Continues
Heroes Remember
The Journey to Freedom Continues
We got to the railway station in South Bommel and there I was,
Mr. Peggy (sp), Jane’s father, was already there and he took
me to a middle-aged Dutchman whose name was
Van Gijsmeer who was obviously in charge of things.
And he gave me a ticket to Weert and pointed out a young
priest to me, who said that would be my guide.
Yes, I followed the priest onto the train when it came, and
after a while he sidled up to me and showed me my dog tag
that this other former Dutch officer had taken from me.
So I knew I was in good hands. But one thing I wasn’t told.
I thought it was a direct trip to Vucht, but when we got
to Eindhoven, the train pulled into the station and everyone
got off! And prior to that, it stopped at a little town and about
20 young, I guess there was a seminary there or something,
about 20 young priests, all like mine, got on the train.
And when it pulled into Eindhoven and all of them got off,
I lost my guide in a jungle, jumble of young priests.
So, I had no choice but to stay in the station, which I did.
And after about an hour and a half or two hours, it sounded
like, seemed like an eternity, I saw my priest come back
and he got on another train and I followed him and we arrived
at Weert that evening. And at Weert we were met by a man,
a young man in his early twenties, I think. His name was
Beland (sp) and he was to take me somewhere and he had
two bicycles, and I told him of course my problem, and I
rode on his bicycle. The two of us rode on the same bicycle.
So we came on a road outside of Weert, we came to a house
and we hid in a grain field. He watched this house, which was
right on the border, very intently, and after a while a woman
came out and hung a wash tub on a nail beside the back door.
And that was the signal that the guards on the border between
Holland and Belgium were at the other end of their route
and it was safe for us to cross. So he slapped me on the back
and we both ran across the border into Belgium and went to
a village, where we met in a pub and there were three young
men in the pub and he told me that, beforehand, that when we,
after we were in the pub for a bit, two of them would get up
and I was supposed to go with them, and there, which I did.
We arrived outside, they had 3 bicyles hidden in the hedge.
So it was a case of riding on the handle bars again.
We went for about ten miles. One of these fellas was, his name
was Peters and we went to his farm where his mother and
father lived and one sister, and I lived there for about a week.
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