An Angel on the Shoulder
Near Reek lives the fifteen-year-old seminarian Wim Boeijen. When he sees Allied troops at the Toll, he makes a life-threatening choice...
On 17 September 1944, the Allies launched the largest airborne operation in history. Operation Market Garden aimed to further liberate Europe from German occupation. To achieve this, a number of important bridges in the Netherlands had to be captured, so that the Allies could push through to the IJsselmeer and then into the German Ruhr area. Near Reek lived the fifteen-year-old seminarian Wim Boeijen.
Already on the first day of Market Garden, paratroopers of the American Airborne Division landed near Ree…
On 17 September 1944, the Allies launched the largest airborne operation in history. Operation Market Garden aimed to further liberate Europe from German occupation. To achieve this, a number of important bridges in the Netherlands had to be captured, so that the Allies could push through to the IJsselmeer and then into the German Ruhr area. Near Reek lived the fifteen-year-old seminarian Wim Boeijen.
Already on the first day of Market Garden, paratroopers of the American Airborne Division landed near Reek, Grave, Velp and Overasselt. Their goal: to capture the Maas Bridge at Grave, later renamed the John S. Thompson Bridge, from the Germans. Wim did not want to miss this spectacle and went together with his father and two brothers to the floodplains. Their curiosity was met with machine-gun fire. It was a narrow escape. Having just evaded death, their enthusiasm for the approaching liberation did not diminish. The next day, Wim went with several villagers towards Grave in search of Allied troops. When he saw Allied soldiers at the Toll, he made a life-threatening choice...
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