Ferdinand and Nico van SLIJPE both received Posthumous Recognition on January 31st 2019. The two brothers were twins and served the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) during and after the 2nd World war in the Pacific theatre.
Mayor Sander SCHELBERG of the city of Hengelo handed over the medals to the relatives of both men during an intimate ceremony. Interesting fact is that both families didn’t have any contact up untill now.
None of the families knew about the whereabouts of their fathers/grandfathers during the war. They both served the 4th Battalion and were made Prisoner of War on march 8th 1942 in West-Java. Ferdinand in TJIANDOER with Infantry 12 and Nico in TJIMAHI with Infantry 9, both as Gunners.
Soon after capture they were interned in Batavia POW-camp. 15-08-1942 they were registered at this POW-camp.
On 04-01-1943 the twins were classified in POW-transport JAVA-PARTY 7 with the HAGURIKA Maru1 and left the harbor of Tandjung Priok to CHANGI Singapore.
26-04-1943 JAVA-PARTY 7 left CHANGI and set for MODJI, JAPAN with Hell Ship KYOKKO Maru for 25 days on open sea. In total 1500 POW’s were on this ship, 1000 Dutch, 300 Brits and 200 Aussies.
21 May 1943 arrival in MODJI and the twins were split-up. Ferdinand was transportes by train to Futase to work the coal mines from FUKUOKA 7B and Nico also by train to Hitachi to work the copperfactory from TOKYO 7B. Both men stayed in these camps till the end of the war.
Both men were Liberated on August 15 1945 after 1256 days of being a Prisoner of War. that is 179 weeks or 41 months or 3 years and 23 weeks…
On 21-09-1945 both men were reunited in the harbour of NAGASAKI under command of Colonel Griffin and were shipped out to MANILLA to recuperate.
Ferdinand was located in BALIKPAPAN with the 50th Batallion Infantry from November 7th 1945, and 7 months later he was passed to the Troop-Command MAKASSAR, CELEBES. Eventually he was honorable discharged from the KNIL on November 16th 1948.
Nico was located at the Troop-Command MENADO, North-CELEBES on November 7th 1945 and placed in the Infantry 18 KNIL. Eventually he was honorable discharged from the KNIL on January 17th 1948.
For more information about Recognition of KNIL soldiers Please check FB-page “ERKENNING KNIL VETERANEN” or send an email to KNIL1830@GMAIL.COM
ERE WIE ERE TOEKOMT