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Sunday, January 26, 2020

1948 Gevaphone Record with Young Pieter J.C. Vedder Playing his Accordion for Brother in Uniform

It was quite something for hearing this SURPRISE coming off one of the WAV files that got extracted from the Gevaphone records we donated to the Dutch Institute for Military History.
Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie
Ministerie van Defensie
1948 March GEVAPHONE recording Pieter playing 'On the Beautiful Danube' with his Soberano Accordion (not on the Hohner shown in this picture from WWII era photo...)
Grateful to NIMH The Netherlands for extracting its contents! See for more info link below from previous post where I explain about donating these records to the Dutch Institute for Military History 

To the left in back row: Marine brother Toon, Pieter center and Thé in uniform for which Pieter played on his accordion.
Pieter's Mom and Dad in the front.
1948 March GEVAPHONE recording Pieter playing 'On the Beautiful Danube' with his Soberano Accordion (not the one in this earlier photo!)
While his brothers were serving in Indonesia, Pieter was quite musically involved.
'Cauber Elsje'
Accordion lessons and he already sang in the big choir during the summer of 1946 in the Rhineland Operette 'Cauber Elsje', where he also danced with partner Willemien Janssen.
Pieter also was requested to play his accordion at a wedding of Tilly Stokman's neighbors, she was an acquaintance of Pieter.
While doing so, someone turned violent and wanted to grab Pieter's accordion and throw it into the water well... Tilly managed to guide him out through a backdoor into the grain field... WOW!
Brother Thé, for whom Pieter played his accordion, was almost 3 years deployed, without any return home.
As soon as he got home, after the Marine brother, husband Pieter was wearing his uniform!
No 3 brothers at once could serve...
Pieter's Mom & Dad in 1950, with standing behind them from left: Pieter, Thé and Toon.

Husband Pieter in uniform... the youngest of three brothers serving.

Next post is a spoken letter to his Marine Brother...

Related links:
72 Years Later... Gevaphone Spoken Letters to Military Brother Employed Overseas | previous post
{Unique Accordion LOVE Story} | previous post by me about Pieter's 3rd accordion...
Pieter's Music Booklet from WWII Era | how Pieter learned to play his first accordion

27 comments:

  1. Very talented young man...still is amazing! 👍👏💪

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest D,
      Yes, he sure is still amazing but this is such a treasure to have!
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  2. Liebe Mariette,
    vielen Dank für deinen interessanten Post.
    Alles Liebe
    Elisabeth

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liebe Elisabeth,
      Danke sehr und hoffentlich hast du es auch gehört.
      Liebe Grüße,
      Mariette

      Delete
  3. What a treasure to be able to listen to him playing after all of these years. His parents must have been very proud of all three of their handsome sons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Janey,
      A treasure for sure and we're so proud that at least Pieter lives to hear it!
      For the parents of course a lot of pride but even more worry of course. So many did not return from that war...
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  4. Very talented and very handsome in that last photo!

    How wonderful to have the family history, to have those photos. I think my dad has old photos and Mom does too, but I don't know the history of either side of the family beyond the basics, and no one was particularly talented, that I'm aware of!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Kim,
      Being talented or not, showing an interest in your Parents' family is a sign of loving your own lineage.
      They will tell stories and it should be written on the back of photos, or if digitalized, with a date and info.
      There comes a day that no more questions can be asked and it becomes just a pile of paper with printed images on... Sad ending of someone's life. To me, that is far more important than Instagram or whatever as it is all so self-centered.
      We are not individuals but threads from a family with quite some heritage... The story needs to be continued.
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  5. Dearest Agnes,
    This is a true treasure!
    Hugs,
    Mariette

    ReplyDelete
  6. Replies
    1. Dearest Anne,
      Yes, these, especially hearing those memories, are priceless!
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  7. Love these photos of your husband Pieter with accordion, with family, and in uniform. He is very handsome and has great musical talent! The story at the wedding, though...WOW indeed. I hope nobody was hurt...!

    Have a wonderful new week, Mariette!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Tamago,
      It is a true treasure to have and to hear! Yes, he was very handsome and an excellent musician.
      Nobody got hurt, they called the police to restrain the person and luckily, Pieter saved his beloved Soberano Accordion!
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  8. Hello Mariette, Tilly's friend was obviously not a lover of music. I am glad that they were not my neighbors in Ohio--my whole collection of instruments would have ended up in that well, probably starting with the alto horn! Seriously, I love finding out more about you and Pieter, your hidden talents and old photographs.
    --Jim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Jim,
      Don't think the person trying to take the accordion was a friend of Tilly... he happened to be just at her neighbor's wedding. Sad that some people react aggressive, under the influence of alcohol. But the fact that they invited Pieter to perform shows that all agreed with his music.
      Haha, some surprises surfaced here I guess, and we both are so proud for having them saved for making it into a story of history...
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  9. Wat een mooi logje Mariëtte. En ontzettend leuk dat geluidsfragment. Fijne dag en lieve groet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beste Willy,
      Dank je en ja, het is een bezit na al die jaren! Jammer dat Pieter's broers het nooit meer hebben kunnen horen... voor wie het bestemd was. Ze hoorden het toen natuurlijk maar daarna nooit meer.
      Liefs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  10. Dear Mariette - What a wonderful treasure to have discovered, and such a joy for both you and Pieter to be able to enjoy it together.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dearest Rosemary,
      Yes, this certainly was one of those JIT moments, Just In Time for Pieter to hear it.
      One wonders how long such projects can take at times... Not knowing where to go for extracting them.
      It had to be this way, through the interaction with the Dutch writer who's done Military History before his retirement.
      We enjoy this indeed!
      Hugs,
      Mariette

      Delete
  11. Liebe Mariette,
    es ist immer wieder schön, Erinnerungen aufleben zu lassen.
    Liebe Grüße
    Irmi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liebe Irmi,
      Wir sind so froh diese Erinnerungen hören zu können nach soviel Jahren!
      Liebe Grüße,
      Mariette

      Delete
  12. Replies
    1. Caro Giancarlo,
      Grazie e lo stesso per voi!
      Un abbraccio,
      Mariette

      Delete
  13. wow, das sind schöne Erinnerungen, liebe Mariette und ich habe Pieter spielen gehört, sehr talentiert und er spielt mit viel Liebe. Spielt er heute noch auf dem Akkordeon?
    Viele liebe Grüße zu Euch
    von Traudi.♥

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liebe Traudi,
      Ja, wunderschöne Erinnerungen und ja Pieter spielt heute noch. Ganz unten am Post gibt es den Link dazu.
      Auch spielt mein Pieter Orgel, also seine Finger bewegen noch aber nicht mehr so rasch wie damals!
      Liebe Grüße,
      Mariette

      Delete
    2. Liebe Mariette,
      das finde ich toll!!
      Was ich noch zur blauen Donau schreiben wollte... ich bin ein Fan von Andre Rieu, der es so wundervoll mit seinem Strauß-Orchester spielt 🥰🥰

      Liebe Grüße von Traudi.

      Delete
    3. Liebe Traudi,
      Danke, ja André Rieu mit seinem Strauß-Orchester ist super und ich bin immer noch stolz darauf das er aus meiner Provinz stammt!
      Liebe Grüße,
      Mariette

      Delete

Thanks for your visit and comment.

Mariette...