War Memorial ‘s-Gravendeel

'S-Gravendeel Old General Cemetery contains the war memorial of' s-Gravendeel. In the center of the monument on the top is the text 1940 - 1945.

The monument contains nine graves of war victims. In the middle the grave of:
Mr. Marinus van der Have, res. 1st lieutenant, killed 11 May 1940 in Wieldrecht.

Three soldiers are buried to the right of the grave:
C.M.A. Hardus, P.L. Polak and W. Mantel, all killed in action in May 1940 in 's-Gravendeel.

To the left of the central grave, five civilians are buried:
J.A. Barendrecht
C. Verdonk
A. Sint Nicolaas
H. van der Linden
these four residents of 's-Gravendeel died in a bombing raid on the sugar factory in Puttershoek on 25-10-1940 by British aircraft. It is suspected that the British pilots mistook the row of trucks with sugar beets in front of the factory gates for German equipment. Clarity has never been given. A total of 25 factory workers were killed in this bombing.

Also buried:
J. van Breda, resistance fighter executed on 6-5-1945 in Mijnsheerenland.

To the left of the monument is a plaque with killed civilians. The text reads:

IN MEMORIAM

The names of ten civilians who died for various reasons.

To the right of the monument is a plaque with four killed soldiers.

Jafeth van der Heiden KNIL, died on 21-9-1944 during a prisoner transport by ship to Japan. The ship, the Hofuku Maru, was wrecked near Luzon (Philippines).

Arie van Maanen KNIL, worked on the Burma railway and died there on 27-3-1943.

Melis van de Ree KNIL, killed on 18-6-1943 near Chungkai. Buried at Chungkai War Cemetery.

Melis Visser, killed 23-8-1940 on Oye Plage, dépt Pas de Calais. Buried in the Dutch cemetery Orry-la-Ville.

On the far right is a white cross with two fallen soldiers during the Indonesian Independence War.
Hendrik Tak, killed in action 5/15/1949, buried in the cemetery Candi in Semarang.
Lambertus Bastiaan Verdonk, killed in action 9/4/1948, buried in the Pandu cemetery in Bandung.

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Source

• Text: Dick de Bruijne, Fedor de Vries
• Photos: Dick de Bruijne (1, 2), Fedor de Vries (3, 4, 5)
• https://www.japansekrijgsgevangenkampen.nl/Hofuku%20Maru.htm
• bommen op Puttershoek
• Hofuku Maru