PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- On Saturday, May 4, 2024, the new members of the Council of Ministers were in attendance to observe National Remembrance Day (“Dodenherdenking”).
During this National Commemoration Day, all Dutch victims – civilians and soldiers – who have been killed in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or anywhere else in the world in war situations or during peace-keeping operations since the outbreak of the Second World War (WWII) were commemorated.
This year’s theme was Freedom: prelude to 80 years of freedom. ‘The years 2024 and 2025 mark a lustrum of 80 years since WWII ended.
The commemoration ceremony occurred at Captain Hodge Wharf in Philipsburg at the War Memorial Monument, which bears the names of World War II victims primarily from Sint Maarten.
The official wreaths were laid in a ceremony by the Governor, the President of Parliament, and the Prime Minister.
Senior officials of various uniformed troops—the Police, Marines, Sint Maarten Voluntary Corps (VKS), and the Marechaussee—jointly laid a wreath in honor of the fallen.
Following the wreath laying, the “Last Post” was played, followed by two minutes of silence after the bells were tolled. This segment concluded with the Dutch Anthem and Sint Maarten Song.
As has become tradition, two distinguished guests, Elsje Bosch and Bernadine van Veen, wife of the late Gerard van Veen, were invited. Both Bosch and Gerard van Veen experienced World War II during their childhoods. The two ladies laid a wreath on behalf of all the children affected by the fight for freedom over the years.
This year, well-known poet Lysanne Charles presented a poem she had specifically composed for this occasion. Trumpetist Wilfred Phelipa accompanied the ceremony with musical performances.
Attendees included Members of Parliament, representatives from the High Councils of State, and advisory bodies.
POEM – By Poet Lysanne Charles:
Men do not truly die until their stories are left neglected. They are not dead unless they are forgotten.
unmourned
undercelebrated, rendering them disappeared
Heroes not remembered become ghosts ... unhumaned...hosts to untold acts of bravery and fears disregarded .....
Tales of countless courage and perhaps some all too human desperate cowardice covered up by thoughtlessness, thanklessness, and time forsaken by our minds They are ... gone....gone, gone, gone... just gone
But what... if we hang on ...
to them... they live
So let us give their memories a moment amongst us
imagine then
imagine them
these island boys turned men
With surnames that sound like ours
and features that reach across old photographs that look like ours
And who are therefore ours... still
who answered the call to defend freedom ...freedom ... free/dem
Some of them were the first or second generation of freedmen
Still willing to fight with all their might
For freedom... freedom... freedom... freedom
Because they understood it was worth
Sons of Caribbean dust and dirt and all the complicated, layered details
Who in their service surrendered to the clutches of death
Who gave their last breaths as the sacrifice for the life breaths of others
Through them... let us delve into... the not-so-distant past and re/discover ... that...
Freedom is not free
Requires sacrifice
A willingness to pay the price
With life... sometimes
As they did
They should not be forgotten
They who fought for something
Fought fraught with something
Some longing for belonging or.... freedom
That...
Freedom is not freedom when we continue to other each other
That freedom is not freedom when we forget our humanity
That freedom is not freedom when we see that another war looms on the horizon
And we set our sights towards might and not right
That freedom is not freedom when children are dying
And poets are bombed
And mother earth is depleted
While unchecked progress continues cheating people of the very gift they died trying to safeguard
Freedom....
And we are not free
if we ....
are fighting ....still frightened .... still
of difference
Let us honor their perishings by remembering that equal must always
all ways
mean equal
Not only when convenient or needed
So equal must also honor those islanders who heeded the call and fought for a kingdom grappling also with freedom
We cannot alter the past...
though history ... at last ... with each new discovery is righted
And on these new foundations we can change the course of our future
We can imagine better ways of being... free... much as they did
And so answer that call
to be brave enough to be amongst the fallen defenders of something...
Called freedom .... evolved and evolving still
For freedom, In memoriam and give thanks
PHOTO’S:
A set with the Governor, President of Parliament and Prime Minister each separately laying a bouquet at the war memorial.
One with the arrival of the Council of Ministers at the event.
One with Members of Parliament preparing to place a flower at the war memorial.
