Liberation of Eindhoven

Liberation of Eindhoven 18 September 1944

Expectation-Consummation

EXPECTATION-CONSUMMATION

Whatever we do in life we have an expectation that things will work out in the end and that we one day experience the consummation of the best.

There is alway HOPE.

During World war II I was studying for the priesthood in a makeshift seminary. We were occupied by Nazi Germany. In spite of that we were always expecting that they would lose and that we one day would enjoy the the consummation of liberty.

There is always hope

18 September 1944
On that day I was standing outside the classroom of our minor seminary. Hundreds of aeroplanes thundered above us. We were told that my hometown Eindhoven in the Netherlands (30 Km from the town we were) was liberated from the German occupation. Finally the allied army were on their way to end the war, we thought.
A long train of lorries and tanks drove through the narrow main street, thousands of shouting people along side of which welcomed the English army from the south.
In the morning the American 101ste airborne division had liberated Eindhoven from the north. (See the picture above of the Liberation of Eindhoven.)

A sign of hope .

Although the next day the Germans bombed the city causing terrible damage with close the 200 civilian casualties, there was still hope in my heart that my family were alive and that the victory was in sight.

A patrol was fighting near a canal when an english soldier shot a german one. The english crawled forward and saw that the german was only wounded. Then he saw nearby a car approaching, stopped it and put the wounded soldier in it and drove straight to the german field hospital. They were surprised to see this and took the wounded one inside, shook hand with the english one and let him go back to his patrol. There was sign of hope that the end of war would end.

October 26 1944. After the operation "Market Garden" which started on 17 September failed at the bridge too far. The allied forces widened the front line and came close the city of Tilburg where I was. We had been for a night inside a concrete cellar under the church. During the afternoon one of the teacher opened the door on the top the stairs.
He was smoking a cigarette. Slowly the smoke wafted down and we smelled that it was not that awful smoke of ersatz tobacco but the real Virginia, A sign of hope.
We smelled our liberation.

Because there was no telephone or postal connection I was still waiting for some news about my family. But finally on the 11th of November 1944, my 16th birthday, a man on a motorbike arrived with a letter from my family. This was and still is the best birthday present I ever had, because I read in it that my family survived. The bombs fell only meters away in front of our house, but all my family were sheltering in the kitchen on the back. 18 people were killed on the road but my family were fine. What a relief!

There is always hope. Thank God.

Fr John Heijnen

23 September 2009