Evening star., 1961-04-02
AZ Days With the Underground in Holland:
The Wartime Experience of Senator ::

spirit hadn't been shaken. To keep
busy, we did household chores and
sburied his heirlooms in the cellar.
Every now and then, German
search parties came through, and
we felt we were endangering the
family. We decided to make , a
break to the Allied lines.
Setting the day, we asked for
complete new sets of identifica-
tion papers and some old clothes.
The Dutch came through with
their usual finesse. Col. Krebs be-
came a farmer carrying a hoe. I
was his hired man with an armful
of twigS for firewood. He could
speak German, but I knew only.a
few words of the language, So I
tied a bandage around my neck. If
we were stopped. Krebs could say
l had a sore throat and couldn't
talk. 2%7
At a predetermined hour we
walked down a street until we
came to bridge where two IA
year-old boys were munching. ap-
plies. This was our recognition Sig
nal. 1 pulled an apple out of my
pocket and took a bite. cThe
apple and the bridge are shown in
the oil paintingO Whistling cheer.
fully, the boys assigned to be our
guides walked ahead of US as we
trudged along.
,
IS Miles on Foot 81
We had Is miles to go on foot,
through roadblockS and patriotism
no mans land. Every or 3 miles,
our young guides would change,
so that none would be found too
far from home-a serious offense
to the Nazis. To skirt some towns,
We followed bitches and climbed
through barbed-Wire barricadeS.
Other times, we couldn't avoid
walking by sentry posts, but go
had learned to say "Morga"
cHoWdy'D to the guards. Occa-
sionally, the boys were stopped,
and we plodded on until the
youngsters caught up. -
At the end of that nerve-wrack-
ing day, we arrived at farmhouse
Scared by shelling. In the yard,
woodpile covered the bottom Of
an old silo. The widow who owned
the farm pulled aside few sticks
of wood and pointed to a small
room under the brush. Even some
food awaited us. "
About an hour later. a battery
of German 88S rolled up nearby
and started firing. They we're so
close we could hear a German
officer give his orders to fire. For
3 days shells were whizzing
around uS-both ways. The farm
house was hit, the barn knocked
down, and two sheep killed. That
meant fresh mutton, served graci-
ously by the widow to her eight
children-and the two Americans
in the silo.
-
An Eerie Silence -.
In the middle of the fourth
night, the 88S pulled out and an
eerie silence settled over the farm.
Next morning we ventured out Of
our room under the woodpile to
stretch our cramped legs. Then we
heard voices of a patrol moving
up. We were about to dash back
to shelter when our ears caught
the clear sounds of familiar slang.
They could only be GI's. A few
days later, we were back with Our
outfit, after AZ days behind enemy
lines.
Shortly before that Christmas,
after the Breda area was liberated,
Col. Krebs and 1 loaded a plane
with clothes, Creations, candy
soap, and cigarettes-all contrib
uted by about so men in our out
fit. This mountain of supplies was
heaped into a trailer and jeep
"HASAi wv tOOh dIOllS III Oul N-St.
Landing near Breda, we retraced
our steps in the jeep and trailer,
passing out our tokens of grati-
tude to those who had helped us.
Story Of the Pointing -,
This is the simple story Of the
oil painting now hanging in my
Senate office in Washington.
1t is not a profile of heroism by
a couple of jittery American air
men; the real heroes are the
Dutch people. Colonel Krebs and
I were symbols of the free world.
We were important to all these
vanquished but uncomfortable
people who treasured the dignity
of liberty. s.-
When I parachuted into Hol-
land, I felt was nothing-some-
one small and unimportant-A
Speck in the universe leaving "a
disabled plane for a hostile coun-
try, When I left Holland, sensed
Lhad accomplished far more than
our original mission-I had
learned from the defeated" the
true meaning of freedom and how
we must never give up fighting