72 Years Later... Gevaphone Spoken Letters to Military Brother Employed Overseas

It is hard to imagine the feeling of touching those Gevaphone records.
Even more so when finally HEARING THEIR CONTENT!!!

Spoken Letter was for Pieter's eldest brother Thé (Theodorus) Vedder who was in the military for nearly 3 years, during the Indonesian National Revolution, without ANY time visiting home!
Tough times for Pieter's Parents who managed to live through the Depression years with their three little sons.
Lived through WWII and the Evacuation while their home got severely damaged and ALL greenhouses flattened...
Then the eldest had to go overseas in 1946 to Dutch Indonesia for the Indonesian National Revolution.

Gevaphone Record
These came from the Belgian company Gevaert and they produced them in large numbers in the late 1940s.

They consist of a carrier of cardboard with a layer of (nitro) cellulose lacquer. In this coating the grooves were cut.
NO WAY you could play those with a regular record player...

Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie

Ministerie van Defensie

So for years, since the death of Pieter's eldest brother Thé, in 2012, when we received them (had no idea they still existed) we searched for a possibility to extract their SECRETS...

Finally, the day before flying to The Netherlands to see Dad one more time while he was still alive, I got a tip from a Dutch history writer whom we had helped with info about Horticulture and Mushroom Cultivation in my Province of Limburg after 1945.
We packed all 7 Gevaphone records carefully and took them with us on the plane to The Netherlands and mailed them from there.
They got received by May 25, 2019 and we agreed to donate them to the Dutch Institute for Military History and in return receive anything that could be extracted from them.
The wait was long till December 18, 2019 when I finally got them via WeTransfer!
Now the speed was such that Pieter could not understand it...

Found a dear friend Gil Gillis from Gillis Video click it, who slowed the audio down so we could understand it.

For about 3 years, Pieter was the only child.
This is at Easter, March 28, 1948, peeling a decorated goose egg and Pieter is almost 19 here!
Pieter's Dad wore a hat often and hence his skin coloration difference.

Thé's task was in the military liaison element...

The Gevaphone record with spoken letter by Pieter's Mom and by Pieter himself, written down in Dutch.
With the slower version, I did manage to capture it and write it down.
Sure, they did try to cram as much as possible into their given 1.5 minute!
Not easy to understand at an old age with hearing difficulties...

Translated into English:
Hello Theet (his Mom called him that always!), here's your Mother's voice.
I've already written a lot of letters to the East but now there's something new under the sun.
And I'm here to have a chat with you.
First, we're all still doing excellent.
What are you saying? With you, too? Yes, I believe so!
Especially if you're making a trip to the Bandung with your boss in such 125 Horse Power truck.
Along the sawas and those beautiful overgrown mountains, a beautiful natural beauty.
And then again in a short time, eight days on leave to that beautiful city from Cirebon to Bandung.
If you let your eyes absorb a little bit of  it, then you can enjoy a lot.
The three of us have talked so many times about Indonesia and said what do these guys benefit in such a beautiful country.
Not only the population but above all the beauty of nature.
We've made the plan by bike, but because the bike's saddles are too hard we opted out.
Now Thé, another point; winter is almost past and sleeping in is over with.
Now pressure is again on horticulture with sowing and planting and in the greenhouses the lettuce and cauliflower are beautiful, and the plants under the flat-glass as well.
So you can see, we're busy again and we'll get a green leaf soon.
Well Thé, now I have to say goodbye with a firm handshake from your Father and Mother and Piet and he will fill up the rest.

Example for flat glass: Depression years market gardeners - Tuinder zijn in de jaren 30 - zware klus 

~
Pieter: I’m here with the assignment for chatting one and a half minute into such a thing you call microphone, but I’m sure that is by far not easy to do, at least you should have seen and heard the preparations.
You're crazy said the one, how can you put that in now?
That doesn't make sense, who knows where these things are being played, and especially at your office, there’s a big chance in the presence of some high ranking ones. 
Yes, but that then says another - oh go away that is of absolute no value for him and so on.
That we're all doing well, you've already heard and the same you are writing, so in that regard we're even.
You have to see Toon in a few months.
You reckon that in his capacity as a cook-assistant he will not do bad, at least as far as belly gaining is concerned.
What I can gather from your letters, they're not so generous with food at your location. 
But yes if you can only get along, a human does not easily starve as you can see in Gandhi!
If you're going to last as long until you get back home, by then we'll make sure we have another pig fatted.
It's not going to be that easy to bite into a skinny piece of bacon with a mouth still tasting of chili sauce.
Ah well, I'll grab the accordion and play for you “ON THE BEAUTIFUL DANUBE"
If the musical performance isn't that great, it might still be good for ousting extremists.
Well there it goes with the best greetings from your brother Piet Vedder

This photo is from all three brothers with Parents during the 1940s...
Husband Pieter is to the left and his middle brother Toon is next to him and Thé is seated next to his Mom, with Dad on the left.
~
Those were scary times, not knowing when and IF they would return home safe; so many lost their life while overseas.

For Pieter it was also hard, especially at his young age for dealing with all the emotions and for helping out as much as he could; being the only one.
Here, his Mom's sister with husband and children are with them.
They lived across the street, and were very close.

Luckily in Indonesia, the two brothers somehow got to be together at times... as seen in this photo!
But none of them could get home for all those years!

It has been quite a job for putting some old photos with text into a slide show and then adding the audio in order to upload it as video on YouTube Audio is in the original speed, not the slow version! A little part of history being preserved... Next post you will hear Pieter playing his accordion ! Related link: {MEMORIAL DAY - FREEDOM HAS ITS PRICE} | previous post by me mentioning the flattened greenhouses and home...