Dutch War Graves General Cemetery Driebergen

At Driebergen General Cemetry there are ten Dutch war grave in a row of honour.

Six of them are soldiers who died in 1940, the others are graves of members of the resistance. Next to the military graves there was a statue of a soldier with the text ´Den vaderlant ghetrouwe blyf ick tot in den doot´.['True to the Fatherland I will remain onto death"] . Only the base remains.

The six soldiers, that all got killed in Driebergen-Rijsenburg are, from left to right:
1 Hendrikus Cornelis van der Hoef, police sergeant 4-1 R.H.
2 Jan Koops, soldier 1-II-19 R.I.
3 Hendrik van Veelen, soldier 2-I-8 R.I.
4 Bernardus Hendrikus Unland, corporal 2-1-8 R.V.A.
5 Jacobus Franciscus Leonardus Oomis, soldier 3-I-9 R.A.
6 Harmen Scholten, soldier 3-III-24 R.J.

At the graves of two members of the resistance (7 and 8) there is a memorial. They perished in an attempt to free members of the resistance from the Willem III barracks in Apeldoorn that had been taken prisoner. They were posthumously decorated with the Ridderkruis 4th class of the Military Order of William (Van Bijnen) and the Verzetskruis (Esmeijer).

The memorial consists of a stone cross that is supported by two Dutch lions. Above that the text:" ZIJ VIELEN VOOR ONZE VRIJHEID" ['THEY FELL FOR OUR FREEDOM"]
On the left is says the name:Paul and on the right it says the name: Frank.
Bottom left there is a small boulder with a plaque and the text: Boulders 1940-1945.

The two graves (9 and 10) on the far right are those of members of the resistance:
Johannes Groenhuijse, killed on 15-02-1945 in Driebergen-Rijsenburg
Gijsbert Vonk, died on op 23-03-1945, in Zeist
Both men were involved in the raid on the house of a member of the general committee of the NSB. At the house the Germans who had been warned were lying in wait and shot them. Groenhuijse died on the spot while Vonk was heavily wounded and taken to hospital in Zeist, where he died on 23-03-1945.

Further there are two graves of civilian war victims:
Johannes Jongkind, died in Braunschweig
Hendrik Anthonie Marchal, executed on 09-09-1944 at the Leusderheide.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries, Dick de Bruijne
• Photos: Dick de Bruijne (1, 2, 3, 4), Fedor de Vries (5)
• Reformatorisch Dagblad van 08-01-1992