Dutch War Graves Roman Catholic Cemetery Hillegom

The Roman Catholic Cemetery in Hillegom contains two Dutch War Graves from the Second World War and the communal grave of four children who died as a result of the war.

The Dutch War Graves are of:

Member of the Resistance, Frans Nicolaas Ludwig, 09-11-1944
Soldier 2-III-4 R.I. Albertus Theodorus Meskers, 11-05-1940.

The grave of the 4 children:
On May 31, 1945, the war is barely over, 4 neighbors from Hillegom, they lived on the Stationsweg, go with a homemade cart to the Bloemendaal dunes near Vogelenzang to gather pine cones for the fireplace.
They find a "rocket", presumably an unexploded V1. Presumably the boys lashed out at the projectile or did something else that caused the bomb to explode. All 4 were killed. When the boys didn't come home, the family went on a search and found "the remains" of the 4 boys.
It concerns Piet and Jan Assendelt, 13 and 11 years old, John Turkenburg, 15 years old and Piet Lycklama, 12 years old.
The remains of the boys were buried in 2 coffins in one grave at the Roman Catholic cemetery St. Martinus on Mariastraat in Hillegom

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar en Esther Dalberger
• Photos: Esther Dalberger (1, 2, 5), Kick Rooijakkers (3, 4)