Bernard van Eerden

(Lintelo, 1916)

Member of the 1st Company DNB

Leading the Citizen Army DNB

In May 1940, Bernard van Eerden was a sergeant-commander in the 11th Infantry Regiment, responsible for moving ammunition trucks. During the war days, he kept a diary, which however stops at a crucial moment: the departure from Amerongen to the front at Rhenen. It is known that Van Eerden and his men came under heavy enemy fire. Sergeant Van Eerden survived the battle and went into hiding shortly thereafter.

At the end of the war, a group of six men from the Home Forces Lintelo practiced with weapons in the woods near his neighbor Bernard Janssen. Bernard van Eerden was part of this group and was also present in the middle of the night in the Aaltense Goor during the Allied weapon drop.

In early April 1945, shortly after the liberation of Aalten, Bernard van Eerden enlisted in the Dutch National Battalion. In the photograph of the marching men leaving Aalten, he is seen at the front. He served as a section commander in the 1st Company.

In July 1945, he joined the Dutch army and later worked for some time with the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Organisation (Explosieven Opruimings Organisatie).

Bernard van Eerden married Neeltje Johanna (Nel) Peetoom on 11 June 1947. They had three daughters. Bernard ran his own accountancy firm in Aalten.

He passed away in March 1985 at the age of 69.

Bernard van Eerden