Dad was part of the Dutch Resistance during World War II, mainly smuggling weapons to other freedom fighters and sabotaging railways and lines of communication. The Nazis would line up villagers and shoot them every time a telephone pole went down so they had to quit doing that. He switched to smuggling Jews to safety, which was also dangerous business. The pictures are from the holocaust exhibit at the National Museum of the US Air Force at WPAFB to honor local Dutch residents who had a role in saving Jews during WWII. He also got an Olive tree planted at Yad Vashim in Israel.
The ID card is tough to read but it says Peter Posma. Ironically, one of my patents had a typo that misspelled my name Marinus Posma some 60 years later!
My Dad never talked about his experiences during WWII until decades later when it was learned that he hid for one year in an attic as a 16-year-old for escorting Jews to the seaport. He was asked why he did it. His answer, “What would you do if someone came to your door with the Gestapo hot on their heels?”
The contemporary photo of Dad is from Summer 2017, age 91.
