Date of birth:

February 3rd, 1910 (Werkendam, the Netherlands)

Date of death:

October 6th, 1975 (Den Burg, the Netherlands)

Nationality:

Dutch (1815-present, Kingdom)

Willem van Veen from Werkendam, pseudonym "The Mustang" or "Wim I," was a wicker worker in the Biesbosch and thus well known there. He was engaged in supplying the many people in hiding who were hiding in the Biesbosch. He was thus an important player in the Werkendam LO that kept these people alive.

He also became involved in the "Biesbosch group" that ambushed-disarmed-German soldiers and held them prisoner in a few hidden arks and houseboats. On November 6, 1944, the now 75 prisoners were handed over to the Polish army after a perilous journey in newly liberated Drimmelen.

After the liberation of the southern Netherlands, cross work got underway. These so-called Liniecrossers carried people and intelligence across the front line to liberated territory in rowboats and canoes. The most important crossings were from Sliedrecht to Lage Zwaluwe and from Werkendam to Drimmelen. Willem van Veen soon volunteered for this work and made an estimated 18 crossings including the one with married couple Paul and Mathilde van Dillen. Van Dillen was working for the CNV (Commissariaat Noodvoorziening) and his wife, now living in California, later wrote a book about her experiences in the Netherlands during the war. In this book "Give Terry a Bone" (the code message broadcast by the BBC confirming their safe arrival) she devotes ample attention to her crossing with Willem van Veen.

Willem van Veen was awarded the Bronze Cross and the Resistance Memorial Cross.

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• Photo: De Liniecrossers - Linie Crossers Sliedrecht | Leer de liniecrossers kennen
  
• - HEUVEL, C.C. VAN DEN e.a., Verzetsherdenkingskruis, Samsom Uitgeverij, 1985.
  - HOEK, PIET VAN DEN, Biesbosch Crossings 1944-1945, Kok Voorhoeve, Kampen, 1993.
  - SIMONS, J., Liniecrossers, Omniboek, 2021.
  

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