THE DUTCH HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN AMERICAN SOLDIERS It was November 1944 and the Dutch Family’s barn was giving rest to some 101st Airborne Paratroopers. A rifle squad headed up by Sgt Layton Black (author of “The Last First Sergeant”) used the family dairy barn for shelter and rest. The farm near Herveld belongs to the Frentz family who gladly allow the troopers to stay there. Mrs. Frentz invited the youngest trooper, PFC Leo Martin (my father), into their house for tea and a friendship starts between The Frentz’s and the young soldier. Fast forward to 2012, while viewing the Triggertime website (WWII 101st Airborne) , a message arrived from a Dutch national looking for pictures of St Oodenrode, Holland during the war. I told him I had none but sent him a few pictures of the Frentz family in front of their house and included the address from an old 1944 memo book my father had. Before I knew it, this kind Dutchman contacted a friend in the same town who then knocks on the door of the house in the picture 70 years later to find that the Frentz family had moved long ago. One family member is still living, 82 year old Johanna (age 14 in 1944), who now lives in another city. This friend tracked down her location and asked to speak to her. She agreed and he mentions the war and the American, Leo Martin. She immediately turns with recognition of the name and says “yes!, I remember!”. He explained that Leo’s son would like to contact her and she agreed. E-mail addresses were exchanged and an email from Johanna arrives saying, “Your father came to us in November 1944 with 15 other soldiers and slept in the barn. They were essentially fighting, came dirty and tired 4 days at our rest and a week later they departed again to 10 km away to fight and then 4 days at our rest. Your father spent four days with us, he was a village further two days rest and then continue to fight. In another village, he had borrowed a bike and he came in the evening with us coffee. That was a surprise to us, because of course we missed him and were afraid that he would not survive the war. Later we heard that almost none of his comrades survived the war. After the war, your father and some of his comrades had written. Bittersweet isn’t it? The kindness of the Dutch family to my father and the other men of Company C 502nd PIR. Johanna sent a picture of the names and addresses the men had written down for her that she kept all these years and her comment that many had not survived the war. It brought tears to my eyes. ~Gary L. Martin, son of decorated 101st Airborne Paratrooper, Leo Martin & story contributor to this page I love sharing these heartfelt stories of our veteran fathers and the connections made between the veteran soldiers grown children with those who gave shelter and support during that great generation. If you have a story that you would like to share on the Comes A Soldiers Whisper page, we would be honored for you to send us a message. We will be posting on stories of veterans of all wars, past and present. COMES A Soldiers Whisper remembering history and honoring your stories one day at a time... AUTHORS BOOKS: amazon/Jenny-La-Sala/e/B00NR36UYM/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0 Follow Us: https://facebook/ComesASoldiersWhisper comesasoldierswhisper/ https://twitter/Jennylas
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 11:00:01 +0000
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