大象传媒

In October 1944,I received a letter which said. We are very glad we have found you! It must be quite a surprise for you too, finding a letter from Holland on your doorstep. It was a long letter and the gist of it was that the village of Dreumel in Holland were
Celebrating 50 years of freedom, and are tracing as many war veterans as possible.
If we are not mistaken you fought with the 43rd Recce in Dreumel if this is correct will you please fill in the questionnaire. We will supply hospitality for your stay with us. Jos van Koolwijk chairman Dreumel 1100 Committee. Other members of the 43rd Recce Fred Sylvester and his wife, .Frank Thompson. Myself and my wife met on the North Sea Ferries boat in Hull and went on a very pleasant journey to Dreumel.
We had a marvellous re-union and met with other members whom we had not seen for 50yrs. When the re-union was over, Fred and I asked our host Annie De Ryjk if she would take us both to the cemetery in Nijmegen to visit the graves of two of our friends who were killed in a patrol to a Fort near Dreumel where we were ambushed.
On arriving at the Cemetery we found the names of Stopher and Hadwin but no graves. On arriving back at Dreumel we asked Jos what had happened to the two soldiers. He said the bodies had never been recovered and were still under the rubble of the fort when it was demolished. The following year Jos again contacted Fred,Frank and I and said that they were about to turn the Fort area into a wild life park, and that he thought that we should do something to let people know that two British soldiers were buried there and to respect the area. We then decided to get some funds together and raise a memorial plaque. After a lot of hard work by Jos Koolwijk in Holland and Fred, Frank and myself in England we managed to raise funds to build
The Hadwin and Stopher Memorial. Jos had done all the hard work in Holland getting
The Monument designed, and promise of building etc. After two years Frank and I were on a pilgrimage to Holland with the Market Garden vets and asked Jos to our Hotel for an update on the progress of the Monument. Jos told us that he was getting passed from pillar to post as there were three different councils to deal with. We told Jos that none of us were getting younger and would like to see the Monument built.
On returning to England Fred Frank and I had a meeting and decided to contact Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands for his help. This Fred did. From then on things happened quickly and the Monument was erected on the 26th of October that year.
Owing to illness Prince Bernhard was unable to attend the unveiling but invited us to the Palace and we spoke to him in length and thanked him for his help.
While we had been raising the funds we managed to contact the Mother and sister of Ray Hadwin. His mother who was 99 had no idea as to what had happened to her son all she had was the telegram saying he had been killed. At the ceremony were relatives of those killed who had travelled from England, Alaska , America. Those we had contacted in New Zealand could not attend due to ill health.
As Margeret Hadwin was looking after her Mother she could only stay for the ceremony, When Prince Bernhard invited us to the Palace he told Jos to cancel the taxi we had arranged for her, bring her to the Palace and he would make sure that she got to the airport on time for her flight. This he did. She had the royal limousene and Chauffeur who got her to the airport and straight onto the plane on time.
We now have a beautiful and well kept Monument which is visited by many people and organisations, with children from the local school who have adopted the monument along with the local dignitaries who lay wreaths and flowers at the remembrance services.

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