Hans helps war vets make final pilgrimage (From Echo)

Hans helps war vets make final pilgrimage

8:00am Thursday 29th April 2010 in News By Emma Palmer

Thanks for the help – veteran Don Sheppard with Eastgate boss Hans Wusterfeld

EXACTLY 65 years to the day Allied troops liberated Holland from the Nazis, a group of south Essex war veterans will make an emotional pilgrimage back to the country.

Normandy war veteran Don Sheppard, 89, will be among a group of 20 old soldiers embarking on a seven-day coach trip to Holland.

The veterans and their partners will be setting off from the Eastgatre Centre in Basildon on Monday.

Along for the ride will be Eastgate manager Hans Wusterfeld, who has organised and raised money for the trip because of his 15-year association with the veterans.

Hans, patron of the Basildon and Laindon branch of the Royal British Legion, has a deep respect for the old boys who liberated his Dutch town when he was boy.

The 65-year-old, originally comes from the village of Gouda, in the Netherlands – one of the stops on the trip.

He said: “I was born at the same time Allied soldiers liberated my town from the Nazis, after five years of occupation during the Second World War.

“For me as I grew up, these guys were my heroes.

“They liberated our town. I was too young to know, but my parents would always talk about the liberation and the feelings of joy at what these men did for us.”

Don, of Methersgate, Basildon, is chairman of the Southend and district branch of the Normandy Veterans Association and will turn 90 during the trip. He said: “Hans has done so much for us. He’s a true friend and we’re looking forward to the trip. We always have a laugh when we get together.

“I think this will be the last time our group does something like this because of our ages. When we get to Gouda, we will be taking part in a parade through the town. I say parade, but it’ll probably be more like a shuffle with our walking sticks.”

Don, who helped to liberate the notorious Nazi death camp Bergen-Belsen, added: “I remember making our way through the occupied countries. A lot of people think the Normandy Vets just served at D-Day, but there was plenty of fighting after that.

“For me the utter travesties of the Holocaust that we saw at Belsen will always stay with me. I remember seeing piles and piles of dead bodies just heaped up like animals.

“I will never understand how human beings can do that to one another.”