Memorial to fallen (former) Oudenhoorn residents

On Oudenhoorn's church square is a monument in memory of Bastiaan de Zeeuw and Cornelis Blaak. They were residents of Oudenhoorn and died during World War II.

Bastiaan de Zeeuw (1915-1940) was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Dutch Army. After the Dutch surrender on 15 May 1940, he managed to escape captivity and was able to defect to Dunkirk. On 21 May, the ship on which he was evacuated to England was sunk by German planes. Bastiaan de Zeeuw was killed along with 49 other Dutch soldiers in the process. Several months later, his body was washed up near Terschelling.

Cornelis Blaak was a captain with KLM. During the German invasion in May 1940, he was on his way to the East Indies and could not return. He went there to fly for the Indian branch of KLM, the KNILM. After the Japanese invasion, KNILM's DC3s transported evacuees to Australia by order of the government. On 26 February 1942, he had to make an emergency landing in South Sumatra with his aircraft. The crew remained virtually unscathed, but fell into the hands of hostile Sumatrans and later the Japanese. As captain, Cornelis died on the spot from injuries inflicted by the locals.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Hans Wijnands