Gathering in honor of our veterans
On the initiative of a number of residents, a gathering was held on January 31 in honor of our veterans. The gathering took place at the Veterans Memorial on Burgemeester Van der Jagtkade in Hellevoetsluis. In the presence of veterans, council members, residents, and college members, Mayor Scheepers delivered the speech below.
Good morning,
I am very pleased that you have come here with such a large group. I would like to start by sharing a story with you. It is a story from April 2008. On April 17, 2008, General Peter van Uhm succeeded Dick Berlijn as Commander of the Armed Forces. One day later, on April 18, just after taking up his new position, he received the immensely sad news that his own son, First Lieutenant Dennis van Uhm, had been killed in Afghanistan during the ISAF mission, together with Private First Class Mark Schouwink.
That story always moves me deeply. I am a father myself, and I can hardly imagine the immense grief you must feel when your own child is killed, and on the other side of the world at that. You will never be able to hold each other tightly again. Schouwink and Van Uhm were not the only ones who died in Afghanistan. A total of 25 Dutch soldiers lost their lives during the ISAF mission.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is very important to realize how this happened. It did not happen in the relative safety of the army base, but on the front line. There they fought shoulder to shoulder with their NATO allies. When I think of all those soldiers, I feel above all a great sense of pride and appreciation. These soldiers did something very valuable and important. They fought for the freedom of the Afghan people, for the security of our NATO allies, the United States of America, and for the security of NATO in general.
I was just talking about feelings. I can hardly imagine how our veterans and the parents of those soldiers who lost their lives must have felt when President Trump said last week that it was mainly Americans who fought on the front lines in Afghanistan. I can hardly imagine that feeling. That is why I was so incredibly happy with this wonderful initiative to come together here today to honor our own veterans. To show that we do things Voorne aan Zee in the Netherlands and in Voorne aan Zee .
We stand shoulder to shoulder with our veterans, just as they stood shoulder to shoulder with their comrades in the field. And so we say once again, and will continue to say, as they so beautifully put it in the United States: Thank you for your service.
Let's make this a wonderful tradition. I am incredibly happy that our veterans have initiated their own veterans' café. Afterwards, you can go there to chat with each other. But for now, I would like to say: Thank you for your service.
Thank you, and let us lay flowers in honor of our veterans.