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  

The search that connects Chorlton with a British War Cemetery in the Netherlands

There is just an outside chance that there is someone who remembers Mr. and Mrs. Chetham who lived at Grindley Avenue in Chorlton.

The grave of Arthur Chetham, 2021, Nederweert

They were there from at least 1939 and possibly earlier, and it will be from there that their son Arthur went off war and Joyce, their daughter went off to be married.

She married Arthur Sutton in 1945, and may have stayed local.

I am not sure when her brother enlisted, or his early career in the army, but in 1944 he was in the 8th Battalion of the Royal Scots which was raised on August 2nd 1939.  This fits, because he was already away from the family home at the beginning of  September of that year. 

His battalion stayed in the UK until June 1944 when it landed in Normandy  and fought at the Battle for Caen in Operation Epsom,  and later at the Second Battle of the Odon and Operation Bluecoat. 

The battalion then fought in the North West Europe Campaign, from Paris to the Rhine, until the end of the war.

They entered Belgium in September, crossed the Rhine in March 1945, and advanced to Hamburg by the end of the war.*

Arthur was killed on October 31st 1944, between the villages of Asten, Liessel and Neerkant, during the advance through the Netherlands and is buried in the British War Cemetery at Nederweert.

I doubt I would ever have come across his story were it not from the appeal posted by Jürgen Beekers on social media asking for help to track down information on this young man who is one of 363 Commonwealth servicemen who buried in the Nederweert war cemetery.

Candles lit on Christmas Eve, 2020

Many of whom have been adopted by residents in the region around the municipality of Nederweert, which is co-ordinated by The Adoption Graves Foundation of the Nederweert War Cemetery, and involves visiting an adopted grave several times a year, which might be on the birthday of the dead serviceman and annually on Remembrance Day and Christmas Eve when candles are lit on the graves.

In the case of Private Chetham, there was little known, other than that he was the son of Arthur James Chetham and Edith Emily Chetham of Chorlton-cum-Hardy.

Jürgen’s appeal was successful and while we still do not know too much about Arthur, there is a better understanding of his family, and in the course of the next week we should know exactly when he was born, which will assist in commemorating his birthday in a simple ceremony at his grave.

And that brings me back to the hope that someone may know something of the family, and perhaps have a picture of our young soldier.

The position of Private Chetham's grave marked with a  red circle, 2021

Tantalisingly, there are a number of family historians who have included Arthur’s parents on their family trees deposited on the genealogical platform, Ancestry.

It may just be possible that these family historians have links to others who knew the Chetham’s.

And while I await developments I will track down a reference to Arthur in the Manchester Evening News, and research the regimental diaries of the 8th Battalion for October 1944.

Unit of the 8th Battalion, October 27th, 1944 outside Tilburg

By chance I came across a photograph of the 8th Royal Scots pausing during the attack on Tilburg, on October 27th.  Tilburg is roughly 66 km north of Nederweert.  

Today the journey south to where Private Arthur Chetham died takes just about 48 minutes by car and one and a half hours by train.

So far it is the closest I have got to him, but at least, a little of the story of a young man from Chorlton-cum-Hardy who was killed 77 years ago has come out of the shadows, and will help those in Nederweert, honour his memory.

Location; Nederweert

Pictures; Infantry and carriers of 8th Royal Scots pause during the attack on Tilburg in the Netherlands, October 27th, 1944, Sergeant Laing, No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Imperial War Museum, Nederweert War Cemetery , 2020-2021, courtesy of The Adoption Graves Foundation of the Nederweert War Cemetery, and the collection of Jürgen Beekers

*Royal Scots, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Scots

** 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  

More from Geffen in the Netherlands

Just when some question the value and relevance of closer European ties a correspondence from a Dutch friend reinforces my belief that we are stronger as a continent if we work closer together.

I first began corresponding with Ruud about a year ago and have mentioned his work researching the young men who died fighting around his home town of Geffen close to the Rhine.

 We worked on the story of Sgt Blatherwick who was killed when his aircraft was shot down in the July of 1942 and went on to collaborate in tracking the details of British soldiers who died as the allies pushed toward to the Rhine crossings in the closing stages of the war. 

Ruud has also tracked some of the German servicemen who died in the area. Upper most in his mind has been the wish to commemorate all who sacrificed their lives including the civilians of the town and to pass on details to surviving family members which he has been able to do.

I was so pleased that his efforts will now be rewarded by a permanent memorial in Geffen to all who died and a reminder of the conflicts which tore Europe apart in the 20th century.

My generation was born just after the war when the physical evidence of the conflict was everywhere, and I grew up against a backdrop of films and comics which focused on the struggle with Germany and Italy. And yet today I find it inconceivable that such wars were fought.

 All the more reason that we should work together not only to solve the problems of the present and the future but also try to uncover and share the fate of some who perished.

Picture; war grave in Geffen from the collection of Ruud Verhagen

Lost Lives Part Two

Sgt George Blatherwick died when his Stirling aircraft was shot down on a night raid in July 1942.

 My Dutch friend and I had been researching this young man. Ruud had done most of the work but I was able to track his early life and with the help of Oliver Bailey came up with the operational records of the squadron including a list of the aircrew who were killed over Geffen.

Picture; Record from the National Archive