In the Holy Mass of ten o'clock we heard shooting, bombs fall scary. The chaplains were just preaching. Suddenly all the attention was gone. Some people stood up, but most of them stayed calm. The chaplain paused for a moment and then resolutely ended his sermon.

Under long-lasting noise we went to communion. I thought if we had to die now, it would be a solemn sight. We came home to have breakfast but it got restless again. We then sat on the Veranda and saw countless flying machines landing in the vicinity of Groesbeek. It was powerful, but we weren't afraid. On Monday, however, things began to get serious, and the great attack on Nijmegen and Beek. It was a deafening noise, grenades, cannons, bombs, machine guns, heavy tanks, flying machines, anyway it is incapable of describing. The whole day we prepared, distributed the utensils and the food in the house and the 2 sheds and grabbed our escape suitcases and ran from the house to the shelter and vice versa. Unfortunately, the second day, water, electricity and gas stopped.

We had cooked ahead on Monday, however, and we were able to warm it up on the stove by the neighbors. We still slept on our bed on Sunday Monday, and Tuesday although dressed and with shoes on. In the village it was very bad. Every moment you heard: this or that house is also on fire. All the villagers were in shelters or fled away from a low-lying area, called the Oy, which is a polder.

But it was trouble there as well. A division D SS men's 300 shot over us all the time and from the Kopsche court they shot back again so that we got the very scared. Wednesday morning we fled with food supply to Verhagenwho (neighbors) had a good shelter of reinforced concrete. In the afternoon we had gone back again and had to go headlong back into our own shelter in a hurry. The shelter has done us good service) and spent scary hour there.

Behind the old school, were some soldiers and in the field, and we sat with heads bent down to escape the machine gun bullets that we heard coming down over us all the time. Ernie later found shrapnel also in the neighborhood. Then we got so scared that we decided to spend the night in the shelter at the Verhagen's house. We brought our armchairs and blankets. We will never forget this. We slept with his nineteen people in that basement, family Verhagen with 5 men, Mrs. Borremans with 3 children. Also with 5 more, Mrs. de Ranitz with Meta and the three of us.

It was suffocatingly dark and every few seconds a heavy cannon shot went right over us. We didn't dare to sleep and were glad the night was over. Furthermore, all those terrible rumors about Nijmegen and Beek. The fear took hold. Where Germans had to retreat. They threw flares in the houses. Day and night you saw black clouds and red glow on both sides. The village Beek is badly ravaged. Practically speaking, only that part around us is still okay. Five minutes or so on either side of us. Not everything is burnt out, but it is badly damaged. The rectory was also burned. The pastor and chaplains have had to crawl out on all fours. The church is badly damaged. We're going to the French boarding house to church now.

Sunday morning, Hammie Hendriks came to tell us that we had to leave Beek. It was a very crazy sensation. We were going to church and didn't pay much attention when praying. Until Tuesday morning, we had time to pack. We went full speed to work. Everything had to be put in one room and the house key had to be taken to the town hall. We put everything in the living room and by five o'clock when we were exhausted and were taking a break. We heard a bang and Ernie said: behind the apple tree at Leenders is a big flame. The nearby soldiers flew with the revolver in hand there and we flew after them. Oh God what we saw then was terrible. Little Bennie Verhagen carried by a soldier was hanging limp on his arms. His little face and neck were] burned black and bled were almost completely gone. Hans Verhagen and a little boy Verweij were badly injured. The poor mother who was sick came up the street and could still see the boys getting into a car. We brought her into the house. She was desperate because her husband had just been taken away. I felt terrible for her. The soldiers came back and told me that little Bennie was already dead and that one of the other boys was blind.

Fortunately, Mr. Verhagen was allowed back home. On further information it turned out that they could not say anything about the other boys. Of course, they had played again with a hand grenade that they had taken from the military. We were all deeply depressed.

I cannot imagine living life through such harrowing events. I wonder as she wrote the words if she ever thought that her great-great grandchildren would be reading it? The last time her granddaughter saw her, she was only a child, so she never get the chance to ask about what happened during the war. Now her grandmother (Oma) is able to share the stories with her, and through my FOREVER account, all of the grandchildren she will never meet.