{A Heart of Gold - Great Memorial Day Story}

When KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, for their 75th Anniversary did have a special contest 'Bridging The World' for stories that could win a free ticket for the person and for the cause it was all about, we too wrote a story about the deaf children in Indonesia. On September 19, of 1995 we received a letter (will be visible below) with the listing of some twenty winners - not us... But one of the stories I found so touching that I like to share that with you here below:

A heart of gold

"I'd like to begin by introducing myself. My name is Frank. Last year I passed my high school exams, and now I'm doing my best to keep up at business college. My sis passed too, so my parents took us both on a trip to the States. That's where I got my idea for the 'Bridging the World' contest".

Nobody would deny that Frank Hulshoff, a 19-year-old Dutch student from Driebergen near Utrecht, has a heart of gold despite his chunky black leather biker's jacket and boots. His efforts enabled 64-year old Ruth Berryman, from Detroit, to visit the Dutch grave of her elder brother, Donald, fifty years after he was killed in action in the Netherlands one month before the end of World War II, aged 19.

And yet, Frank had only met Ruth once, when she served him in the bar of a Detroit hotel. They had got talking and when she heard he came from Holland, she told him about her brother buried there. After his return home, Frank went and laid flowers on the grave, and sent a photo to Ruth in Detroit. When he heard about 'Bridging the World', he wrote KLM the letter which won him the prize. He left for Detroit to bring the good news to Ruth personally. The immense war cemetery on the Margraten plateau, in the south of the Netherlands (in Limburg), is an impressive place. When they finally arrive at the white cross marking her brother's grave, tears came to Ruth's eyes. She sits on the ground at the side of the cross, regardless of the damp grass. "If you don't mind, I need to sit here a while. It's been fifty years..."  The Dutch TV team accompanying the couple stop their cameras and leave her in the privacy of her thoughts. What Ruth had told Frank that night in the bar was that she had been saving every penny for years to pay for a trip to the grave, but that, with herself and six daughters to provide for, she had never succeeded in saving enough. "To tell you the truth, that was what touched me most, the idea that somebody had to save to visit a grave!", the young student says in disbelief. "You save money to buy a new guitar or for your next vacation, not to visit a grave surely?" Ruth in turn was astounded that a young lad would do this for her, an unknown woman he had chanced to meet just once.

"Now I know where Donald lies, in the middle of this beautiful country, in these wonderful surroundings, I can accept the fact that he is so far from home. I chatted with a couple of the people who tend the grass of the field of honour. You know what they said? They consider it an honour to be allowed to work here. That really meant an awful lot to me".

After Pieter gave a presentation for the Rotary club in December of 2010 about his experiences as a teenager during WWII in Groessen, Gelderland in The Netherlands, he also did show the American war cemetery in Margraten (the one I showed in yesterday's blog) to show that Freedom is not for free.

When I was cleaning out my desk I did find an old KLM booklet and it had its page marked right on the page with this story. So I got an idea to search for Frank on the Internet. I did find him, at least the very same name, on Facebook! So I mailed him this message:

Please reply if you are THE Frank Hulshoff who won the KLM trip in 1995 with 'A heart of gold'...

Kindest regards from Georgia/USA

Next day I got his reply: Yes that would be me :-)

I do talk regularly to the daughter of Ruth Berryman. Ruth herself died a couple of years ago. Before that I had seen her a couple of times and eventually the family requested to be one of her pall bearers.

It remains a unique story.

My reply again:
Dear Frank,

It also shows that you do still possess a heart of gold! Just as a coincident my husband gave the program about... as explained above already.

Closing with warmest regards from a Dutch American who's very proud of men like you! Wishing you well in all your endeavours.

Franks reply:

Thanks for your nice mail. I appreciate it very much that you take the time to locate me on Facebook and that sums it up pretty well. It did stir a lot more of emotions at that time than I could have imagined. There happened so much special things around Ruth and me, but I don't like to withhold this from you:

A few years ago my parents were on vacation in California with friends. They go hiking somewhere in the desert and meet there on the trail a man and a woman. The man asked my father, 'So where are you from? " and my dad says Holland. To which the man says: Oh really, I have a nice story about a boy from Holland, and he begins to tell the story of Ruth and me!!!

He was a guest at the Hilton where Ruth worked behind the bar and she had told him that story. The chance of that happening is of course 0%. So this story has so many remarkable turns, such as you now, after 15 years, go through the trouble of finding me.

To make the story quite complete: I have adopted the grave of the brother of Ruth in Margraten.

Life is pretty damn amazing sometimes :-)

Greetings and all the best,

Frank

♥...

What a touching story
A Heart of Gold

Related links:
12½ jaar L1 - Amerikaanse president in Limburg | President George W. Bush visits Margraten on May, 8 in 2005. He did stay at the Château Hotel, St. Gerlach and was very complimentary towards the Staff. Proud of my Province of birth; Limburg!
President Honors and Commemorates Veterans in the Netherlands - Margraten, The Netherlands | From White House Archives May 8, 2005
Dutch Queen and Bush lead VE Day memorial

{MEMORIAL DAY - FREEDOM HAS ITS PRICE}

This blog is written by my husband Pieter J.C. Vedder.

A very personal story, that highlights Memorial Day.

May the younger generation come to appreciate the true meaning of FREEDOM...

Over the years, the two most asked questions we have had to answer have been: where are you from (because of our accent) and also; do you like it here.

The answer to the first question is quite simple; we came to this country from The Netherlands some 27 years ago and in 1993 we both became American citizen.

Then the second question; Do we like it here? You bet! We both really LOVE this great country, especially the South and not the least, Laurens County.

Perhaps you like to hear a few reasons for our love affair with this country and especially with Georgia.
First of all, there is the ample living space for everybody. Compare this: the state of Georgia is 4.7 times bigger than The Netherlands, but has only about half the population.

We once bought a lot in the Venice area of Italy, where we lived and we had to pay over 40,000 US dollars for approx 8,500 sq. ft.(0.195133 acre). We paid less here for a couple of acres.

Taxes in the US are also lower then in most European countries (although the Democrats in this country are trying hard to match them). We also found it relatively easy to integrate in this community; the people in general are friendly and perhaps less nosy and envious then in Europe.

Then there is the climate. Okay, we might have some hot days and we have gnats and fire ants. But if you think that you are better off shoveling your car out of a pile of snow (we lived in Pennsylvania too) you may have it.

But what we appreciate most, and what many Americans, especially the young generation, take for granted, is the personal freedom.

As a teenage boy, I have experienced what it means to loose your freedom. Especially the last year from the five years under German occupation has had a big impact on my life.
For months we have been under heavy artillery fire. (We lived close to the German border and the river Rhine). Shrapnel wounded me; we had to leave our home and village and had to evacuate to another part of the country etc. Many families lost loved ones as the result of bombardments. The Germans executed two sons 17 and 23 from a befriended family staying with us, my middle brother just escaping that ordeal.

We were lucky that we lived in the countryside (my dad was in the greenhouse business) therefore we always could find something to eat but the people in the big cities were really starving. When, on September 17, 1944 the Operation Market Garden started in our area (near Arnhem) dropping thousands of paratroopers to secure the bridges over the rivers we thought that the war would soon be over for us. We were wrong; we still had to wait almost half a year.

Can you imagine the feelings we experienced when, in April of 1945 the American troops and their allies finally liberated us. I will never forget that day in April when we came back to our small village from our half-year evacuation, finding the greenhouses flattened and most of the houses ruined, including ours. We slept that night, rolled in an old carpet (we didn’t have a bed yet) and when we woke up, the sun was already shining. My dad put his arms around us and said; we are the richest family on earth; we are all free and alive.

Thank you America, we will never forget what you and your Allies did for us and we will never forget that so many young and brave Americans, among others, have given their lives for our freedom.

Margraten overview of American Cemetery in Limburg, The Netherlands

The pictures show the American Cemetery: Fallen But Not Forgotten in Margraten of the Province Limburg where Mariette is born and where we both lived. This is the final resting place for 8,301 young American soldiers. Freedom has its price!
The Dutch observe their Remembrance Day May 4 and Liberation Day May 5, but they've made it a tradition on the Sunday before the U.S. Memorial Day to pay tribute to the American service members who fought for freedom and are now buried at the cemetery in Margraten.
Today was the 67th time that they observed this.

Seen on one of the photos is: William A Mc Kenna Jr Capt 121 INF 8 Div Georgia Dec 25 1944…

Photos taken by my brother: Martin Van den Munckhof except overview cemetery.

Related links:



12½ jaar L1 - Amerikaanse president in Limburg | President George W. Bush visits Margraten on May, 8 in 2005. He did stay at the Château Hotel, St. Gerlach and was very complimentary towards the Staff. Proud of my Province of birht Limburg!
President Honors and Commemorates Veterans in the Netherlands - Margraten, The Netherlands | From White House Archives May 8, 2005
Dutch Queen and Bush lead VE Day memorial | YouTube video

{Our Spiraea japonica 'Gold Mound' (Japanese Spirea)}

• On May 21 our Spiraea japonica 'Gold Mound' (Japanese Spirea) was showing its pink blooms and I took pictures of it. 
• The serrated leaves are a striking yellow-green color that makes it already a gorgeous shrub in itself.
• Our two shrubs are blooming each a little bit at a different stage, probably it makes a difference in which spot they are planted. 
• Hope you enjoy their blooms and even their flower heads in an already advanced stage. Let's start the Garden Tour.

• The Spiraea japonica is very attractive to butterflies.