It was pure coïncidence: I was waiting at a traffic light at nearby Wassenaar, listening to a CD with Glenn Millers "In the Mood", when police turned up and blocked the road. And from the right out of the woods, at full speed, came a beautiful column of WW II vehicles, opened by Indian and BSA motorbikes with a siren running, jeeps, Dodge command cars, light trucks, heavy GMC en Ford Canada trucks, a halftrack and so on, all manned by soldiers and officers in original uniforms, creating a sort of instant time warp that lasted for minutes because at the same spot the people of Wassenaar welcomed their liberators in 1945 .... It was moving and people came out of their cars and applauded......
The whole thing belonged to "Keep them rolling" Keep them Rolling, Ardennes, a Dutch preservation society with very authentic and very well maintaind stuff. They had probably assembled on the nearby Royal Domain "De Horsten", where Crown Prince Willem Alexander lives, and were on its way to the Veteran Days in the Hague.
Our good friend Muesli -himself a veteran- is very much involved in that manifestation.
Not very well known, the Dutch have about 120.000 veterans from WW II, Indonesian Freedom War, Korea, New Guinea, Libanon, Sinaï , Cambodia , Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a very big happening with thousands turning up and with the Crown Prince, the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the C.in C. attending.
Wish all the veterans a great day and thanks guys for what you did for our country (and other countries as well)
Houdoe,
Derk