Speech by The Netherlands Minister of Defence, Ruben Brekelmans, at the Airborne commemorations in Ginkel Heath, The Netherlands
Your Royal Highness, King Willem-Alexander,
Ambassadors, veterans, military personnel,
Distinguished guests,
80 years ago, during Europe’s dark hours, allied troops brought the dawn of freedom with them. Light returned to the Netherlands.
Today, we celebrate our collective freedom and remember the enormous collective effort that was made to achieve it. We are lucky to do this in the presence of those who contributed to that effort: veterans, a resistance fighter and a real-life ‘Rosie the Riveter’.
I am pleased to see you here. It gives us all an opportunity to say: thank you for your service. And not only your service – but also the service of those who lost their lives in the fight for a free Europe. We carry their stories with us.
Let me add one more story: that of Lieutenant Dermod Greene Anderson. He was an architecture student in the United Kingdom. When the war broke out, he volunteered to join the army.
In 1944, he was serving in the 1st Airborne Division, as a glider pilot. Which means that he flew an aircraft without an engine, that was towed behind another aircraft, and then released into the air. To then safely land with his passengers in the back, quickly get out and then start fighting almost immediately.
On the second day of Market Garden, Anderson landed his glider near Wolfheze. Together with his passengers, he moved towards Arnhem. But due to fierce German opposition, they ended up in Oosterbeek, where they soon found themselves surrounded by the enemy.
Hard days and nights followed, with little opportunity for rest or sleep, and rapidly increasing numbers of casualties. A house nearby, owned by the Ter Horst family, was filled with wounded soldiers.
On the 25th of September, the exhausted soldiers had to face the enemy’s mortar shells, artillery shells, sniper-fire, air strikes and tank attacks. On that day, Lieutenant Anderson was killed, at just 29 years old.
I would like to quote from a letter that his mother sent to the War Office:
(…) he was with that gallant band of paratroops who strove to hold Arnhem against fearful odds.
For ten days they suffered terribly.
On the 10th morning he was killed by an enemy shell which exploded near his trench.
His mother never found out where her son was buried.
It would take almost 80 years to find him. In November 2022, Anderson was exhumed by the Recovery and Identification Unit of the Royal Netherlands Army. They were able to identify him by his second cousin’s DNA: Lieutenant Colonel Julian Miles Anderson, who works at NATO.
It is clear that, 80 years ago, his great uncle had been buried by his comrades – because they had placed his helmet at his feet. These are some of the items that Lieutenant Anderson carried with him: a watch; a Cigarette Ration Tin; a few British coins; a comb.
Somehow, these details bring him closer to us. Lieutenant Anderson was a smoker, who lit up a cigarette during those few moments of rest. He carried some British change that he hoped to spend back home, perhaps on a pint at the pub. At the end of a day, he would check his watch, and realize his wife was having dinner back home at that same time.
When we look at the things he carried, he seems like any other ordinary man. But his deeds were extraordinary. He fought, not only for his own life, but for the lives of others.
Like Lieutenant Anderson, there were hundreds of thousands of ordinary men and women, with extraordinary courage. He can be seen as a symbol of a generation.
Many of us are connected to the brave men and women of his generation. Their children and grandchildren are sitting right here. We all live in freedom, thanks to the efforts of his generation.
The hardship that Lieutenant Anderson faced seems like a long time ago. Many people may think that stories like these can only be found in history books and in museums in other parts of the world.
But since the 24th of February 2022, this is no longer true. In Ukraine, young people are dying in trenches again, killed by shelling and attacked by tanks. They are fighting for the freedom of their country, for the freedom of Europe, so that it can be passed on to the next generation, and the next.
We will support them, no matter how long it takes. Because, as the men and women next to me know very well: freedom does not come for free, it has to be defended.
One day, Ukraine will be able to commemorate the end of the darkness of war and celebrate the light of living in freedom. One day, children and grandchildren will honour the heroes who are fighting today, the extraordinary men and women of this Ukrainian generation.
Hopefully that day will come soon; but let us be sure that the memory of their efforts will last for a long time, as the example of Lieutenant Anderson and the fallen of Arnhem shows.
After 80 years, Lieutenant Anderson can finally rest in peace in Oosterbeek. The Recovery and Identification Unit made sure that his watch, restored and fully working, was given to his second cousin. I know he will wear it with pride; and carry his great uncle’s story forward.
Because whatever time it is, we will remember heroes such as Lieutenant Anderson and his fellow soldiers. And express our gratitude for the light they brought us, the bright light of freedom.
Thank you.