I ran out of my klompen, A Personal History.

Born in 1937 just three years before the German invasion of Holland on May 10th 1940. The big surprise is how one remembers all the war time traumatic experiences of childhood The intrigues of secrecy and self preservation coupled with a child's natural delight in the world around him. These were the elements of a normal life for this country boy from Holland. "Sy" shares keen observations of diverse human attitudes, as well as the dynamics of warfare occurring in his own backyard. Always a people-person and interested in machinery. As a young child Nazi occupied and war torn Holland was the only world he knew. His story begins in Snelleveld a small community his parents had moved to from Friesland for his father "Sybe" to take over a job to manage a dairy farm Baukje, his mother, was a bright and talented lady. Among her talents was her green thumb, both with flowers (with which she always surrounded herself and her family) and vegetables. The vegetables helped them live through times of hunger/starvation. The calm quiet life style came to a thundering halt on May 10th 1945, as German planes flew tree top level for the express purpose of terrorizing the population and boy it worked In 1943 they moved to Waardenburg area much closer to "Sybe's" work and closer to all kinds of action. For a starter dual railroad tracks with trains served as targets for allied planes. For defense the Germans had lots of Ack-Ack both 88s and heavy machine guns. Which made for what seemed safe entertainment for Sy, who spent many hours watching P51 and P38 and his all time favorite P47. Attacking whatever target presented itself. Another interesting item was the German wood burning trucks described in the book. The V1 rockets were a daily concern as they had a tendency to malfunction coming…