(Haaksbergen, 1914)

Member of the 3rd Company DNB

The motto of Willem and his fiancée Mine: “Be familiar, but trust no one”

Willem Scheggetman was born on 12 July 1914 in Haaksbergen, the son of Jan Hendrik Scheggetman and Berendina Willemina Eggink. He grew up with one brother and seven sisters. During the first two years of the war, he lived and worked with his brother and sisters on the parental farm on the Heetpasweg. In 1941, he was asked to perform an act of resistance. It began with the distribution of ration cards and identity papers. In this way, he naturally became part of the resistance.

A plea for help was never made to Willem in vain. A friend in the police force warned him that he was wanted. A letter was on its way to him stating that he would receive a six-month prison sentence for the illegal slaughter of a young cow in late November 1941. Willem left immediately for his aunt and uncle Eggink in Ruurlo, where he remained in hiding for two years. The motto in the house, as elsewhere in the region, was: “Hear, see, and say nothing.”

Pilot assistance in Ruurlo and Zieuwent

In Ruurlo, Willem also quickly joined the resistance, which was not without danger due to the high number of NSB members (Dutch Nazis). He met the neighbour’s daughter, Mine van de Meene, who was eleven years his junior and would become his future wife. They offered help to Jews, refugees, people in hiding, and Allied airmen. Their shared motto was: “Be familiar, but trust no one.”

In 1943, German aircraft shot down a British plane near Zieuwent with nine pilots on board. Scheggetman’s group quickly sheltered them in a chicken coop. Eighteen-year-old Mine also assisted fully.

A subsequent event left a profound impression on Willem. He had personally sheltered Allied pilots on a farm while they awaited further transport to the southern Netherlands. Later, this group set off in the dark but was apprehended by the Germans. These pilots had the address of the family who provided them with shelter in their possession. Punitive measures followed for the farming family. Willem never forgot this for the rest of his life and was reluctant to reveal his name or address after the war. He was also unwilling to be photographed.

Interior Forces and the DNB

In 1944, Scheggetman lost four resistance comrades due to the betrayal of the SD informant Willy Markus. In late 1944, he joined the Interior Forces (Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten – BS). Immediately after the liberation, he was wounded by a grazing shot to his face during an encounter with two fleeing German soldiers.

In mid-April 1945, he joined the Dutch National Battalion (DNB). One task he refused was the guarding of captured SS personnel in a camp in the Betuwe.

After the war

Willem and Mine married on 15 May 1945. That same month, Willem signed up for a year in the Dutch army. After three weeks of training in Brabant, he was deployed with the Mine Clearance Service. The couple lived with his in-laws for several months, where their eldest son was born. Afterwards, they moved to Sint Isidorushoeve, where three daughters were born. From 1948 until his retirement, he worked for the ‘Koninklijke Nederlandse Zoutindustrie’.

For his efforts, Scheggetman received awards from Canada, the United States, England, and the Netherlands. When questions were asked about the war years, the answers from both Willem and Mine were modest. They saved many lives, but they did not care to boast about their deeds. In their memory, the war was a time of fear, oppression, and mortal danger.

Willem passed away on 16 February 2006 in Enschede; Mine passed away on 9 July 2011 in Hengelo (O).

Willem Scheggetman