Skolebarn

Commemoration Services

Last week, on the 1st of November, The Norwegian Defense Attaché to the Netherlands Col. Per Erik Solli participated in two commemoration services to remember Operation Infatuate , the liberation of the occupied island Walcheren that took place from the 1st to the 8th of November 1944.

Norwegian commando soldiers were part of the liberation forces, many of whom ended up sacrificing their lives for the liberation of Walcheren. In Domburg, the Belgian, English and Norwegian monuments in Boulevard van Schagen have been adopted by a local school. Each year the elder students commemorate the fallen soldiers by reading poems and lay down flowers by the memorials. This year, student Aaron Hofkamp presented his self-composed poem “Sorry”:

 

Sorry

Voor de gesneuvelde geallieerden

Die voor de bevrijding alles probeerden

 

Sorry

Voor de omgekomen mensen van het verzet

Ze deden dingen

Met met heel, heel veel inzet

 

Sorry voor de overleden mensen

Ze hadden nog vele vele wensen

 

Bedankt

Voor de mensen die nog leven,

Fijn dat het leven is gegeven

 

Bedankt

Ik ben blij

Dat

Het over is

 

We zijn nu vrij

Van oorlog

Dat is iets

Wat ik niet mis.

 

Later in the day, the Defense Attaché also participated in a commemoration ceremony in Westkapelle at Liberty Bridge, where he lay down a wreath to honor the participants of the operation. Three British Operation Infatuate veterans were present during the ceremony.