May 5th 1945 …… a day of liberation and now a national holiday

Liberation Days are not events we commemorate here in the UK, but then we haven’t been invaded and subjugated by a foreign power for centuries*

It is of course a different picture in other parts of the world, and you do not have to go any further than mainland Europe to experience national holidays which mark the liberation of countries from the control of Nazi Germany.

Last month, the Italian side of our family had their “liberation holiday” on April 25th and today, May 5th my friends and acquaintances across the Netherlands will be doing the same.

According to one source, “Liberation Day (Dutch: Bevrijdingsdag) is a public holiday in the Netherlands celebrated each year on 5 May to mark the end of the occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II. It follows the Remembrance of the Dead (Dodenherdenking) on 4 May.

The nation was liberated by Canadian forces, British infantry divisions, the British I Corps, the 1st Polish Armoured Division, American, Belgian, Dutch and Czechoslovak troops. 

Parts of the country, in particular the south-east, were liberated by the British Second Army which included American and Polish airborne forces (see Operation Market Garden) and French airbornes (see Operation Amherst). 

On 5 May 1945, at Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen, I Canadian Corps commander Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes and Oberbefehlshaber Niederlande commander-in-chief Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz reached an agreement on the capitulation of all German forces in the Netherlands. 

The capitulation document was signed the next day (no typewriter had been available the prior day) in the auditorium of Wageningen University, located next door.

After liberation in 1945, Liberation Day was celebrated every five years. 

In 1990 the day was declared a national holiday when liberation would be remembered and celebrated every year. Festivals are held in most places in the Netherlands with parades of veterans and musical festivals throughout the whole country”.**

It was Jürgen Beekers, who first alerted me to Bevrijdingsdag, after we had corresponded about the search for a young British soldier who was killed during the liberation of his part of the Netherlands in October 1944.

Jürgen is part of a very special project which encourages residents in the region around the municipality of Nederweert to adopt the war grave of a Commonwealth serviceman buried in the local British Military Cemetery.***

It is a project I have written about already and I think it is fitting to return to it today.

I am waiting for confirmation of the birthday of Arthur Chetham who was killed between the villages of Asten, Liessel and Neerkant on October 27th 1944 and is in the war cememtery.

And once we have that date Jürgen, will be able to lay flowers at the grave on Private Chetham’s birthday.

It arrived today  and l know he was born on October7th 1924.

So, for now I shall  be thinking of Jürgen, his family and the others I know in the Netherlands on this special day.

And also of the 365 Commonwealth servicemen buried in that war cemetery and the the activities of those in Nederweert to honour their sacrifice.

Location; Nederweert, Netherlands

Pictures;  Nederweert War Cemetery , 1945-2021, courtesy of The Adoption Graves Foundation of the Nederweert War Cemetery, and the collection of Jürgen Beekers

*With the caveat that some in Wales, Scotland and Ireland may question that comment

**Liberation Day, Netherlands, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_Day_(Netherlands)

*** The Adoption Graves Foundation of the Nederweert War Cemetery https://adoptiongravesnederweert.com  

Remembering the 363 ......... by the residents of Nederweert in the Netherlands

How we remember those who died in past conflicts will vary, from the personal gravestone to the grand monuments which stand in prominent places across the country.  

The War Cemetery, Nederweert, 2021

And also, on the type of occasions when we come together from the small event to mark the death of a family member to the large ceremonies on Remembrance Day.  

All of which is an introduction to an inspiring project from the Netherlands, where people in the region around the municipality of Nederweert are encouraged to adopt the war grave of a Commonwealth serviceman buried in the local British Military Cemetery.   

The initiative is co-ordinated by the Adoption Graves Foundation of the War Cemetery, and is approved and supported by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.*  

Candles lit on Christmas Eve, 2020

At the centre of the Foundation’s work is the recognition of the sacrifice made by those allied servicemen who fought “for the liberation of the region around the municipality of Nederweert from September 1944 to February 1945.  

Many British soldiers who fell in Nederweert, and the surroundings and then on their way to Germany were buried in the, Mgr. Kreijelmansstraat in Nederweert.  

Many crews who died in plane crashes also found their final resting place here.  

Flags at half mast, Remembrance Day, 2020

They came from the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and from countries of the British Commonwealth (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India). 

A total of 363 graves remind us of the sacrifices made for our liberation. After the liberation, an adoption register was established.  This "old" register is now being digitally renewed.  

This new initiative is a tribute to those who had the courage to fight for the freedom and rights of their fellow human beings. 

The freedom and rights that our society sometimes nonchalantly deals with today. 

Flowers at Arthur Hope's grave, Remembrance Day, 2020

The initiative is supported by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Bond van Wapenbroeders dept. Ospel, the Municipality of Nederweert and is already finding widespread interest among the residents of Nederweert and far beyond.”  

I first became aware of the Foundation’s work when Jürgen Beekers who lives in the Netherlands posted an appeal for help on social media. 

“My name is Jürgen Beekers and I am living in the Netherlands, in a village called Meijel.  

I was born and grown up in Neerkant a small village near Meijel.  

Last year I adopted the grave of Private Arthur Hope, 8th Bn. Royal Scots, 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division (KIA 02-11-1944).   

Arthur was killed during the liberation of Neerkant and I am proud and honoured to have been assigned to adopt his grave.   

Arthur is buried in the Nederweert War Cemetery. Nederweert is a village close to Meijel.   

The adoption of the grave was made possible by the Adoption Graves Foundation of the Nederweert War and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.   

Flowers at Arthur Hope's grave on his birthday, 2020

All 363 graves in this cemetery have now been adopted by residents of the Netherlands.   

Some graves have also been adopted by residents from Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium and Brazil.   

The adoption of a grave involves visiting the grave several times a year (we visited for example Arthur’s grave on his birthday and on the day he died) and attending commemorations that are organized annually on Remembrance Day and on Christmas Eve (on Christmas Eve candles are lit on the graves of the Cemetery).     

Because of my knowledge of the events during the Second World War in the Meijel/Neerkant/Liessel region, the board of the Adoption Graves Foundation of the Nederweert War Cemetery has asked me to participate in a research group that investigates the soldiers buried in the Nederweert War Cemetery.   

They assigned me the fallen soldiers who served in the Royal Scots Regiment.   

One of the soldiers I am researching on behalf of the research group is Private Arthur Chetham. Arthur was the son of Arthur James Chetham and Edith Emily Chetham of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.  

The War Cemetery, Nederweert, 2021

However, we don't have much information about him and so I am asking if you happen to have more information about him.   

Private Arthur Chetham was in the same unit as Arthur Hope and was killed between the villages of Asten, Liessel and Neerkant, 3 days before Arthur Hope was killed”.  

It took just a day to find out that Private Arthur Chetham’s parents and older sister lived on Grimley Avenue in Chorlton, and were there from at least 1939 through to the death of his father twenty  years later.  

And as so often happens the research has uncovered a lot about his parents but less so far about him.  

 In particular while I know he was born in the last quarter of 1924 and was registered in the Barton Upon Irwell Registration District, we don’t as yet have an exact date which is important if an adoptee wants to visit the grave on his birthday.  

Candles lit on Christmas Eve, 2020

But that bit of research is in hand, and I hope to be able to pass the date over to Jürgen.  

For now, that is it, leaving me just to thank Jürgen and all those in Nederweert for their efforts to honour these men.  

Location; Nederweert, the Netherlands  

Pictures;  Nederweert War Cemetery , 2020-2021, courtesy of The Adoption Graves Foundation of the Nederweert War Cemetery, and the collection of Jürgen Beekers

* The Adoption Graves Foundation of the Nederweert War Cemetery https://adoptiongravesnederweert.com