My eldest brother Herman was my father’s biggest support on the farm. Later he had a butcher’s shop in West Terschelling, and he was the first of my brothers to die. While slaughtering a cow, he got TB, as he had an open wound.

Jaap came after Herman, but because they all couldn’t become farmers, he joined Uncle Ane Swart as a baker’s assistant. Every now and then he would help out on the farm, because there was always something to do. Later, Jaap had a bakery in the Torenstraat. He was one who never said much, but he had a tender heart.

Brother Piet was always more into the farm and also helped a lot, but he was even more keen to go to sea. He came to work for the boatmen Jan and Kees Roos who lived in Midsland. Our family had a connection with those boatmen because we brought the goods they shipped in from Amsterdam around to the village of West Terschelling. Piet went to nautical college and made it to captain. [Some of his experiences follow at the end of this book.]

His family took over the renovated house of the old farm on the Willem Barendskade. In appearance, he was a true captain — he was also rather taciturn. When he was on leave from his travels, he liked nothing better than helping brother Tjebbe on the farm in Halfweg, where Tjebbe’s son Kees now lives. Since then, the stables there have been turned into accommodation for holidaymakers. When I went to live on the mainland, my family came to Terschelling almost every summer and usually stayed at Tjebbe’s farm. Only during the war years were these vacations interrupted.

My eldest sister Trijntje married Karel Funke, who worked for the PTT, later as a local director. When he retired, they came back to their beloved island.

My youngest sister Neeltje married Sies Dobbinga and left for India, where she was interned in a camp by the Japs during the war. Sies Dobbinga was a well-known naval figure. As commander of a fleet, he helped liberate the Indian islands. At the end of the war, when a naval officer arrived at the camp where sister Neel was interred, he told her that a commander had been crowned king of that island for a day when Timor was liberated. Well, who was this commander then? this woman wanted to know. “Dobbinga”, said the officer. Neeltje shouted, “that’s my husband!” “Then you are the queen,” laughed the officer.

Later, as ‘Schout Bij Nacht’ [Night Commander – a naval rank], Sies was commander of the Naval Training Barracks in Voorburg. My son Herman, who had to be vetted for the army and had enlisted in the Navy, still had to deal with him there. He had to go to Voorburg to be inspected and stayed with his uncle Sies. He was approved for Naval Reserve Officer, but then, since he was a teacher, he had to report every summer holiday. Herman wanted none of that and signed up as a sailor. Well, that went against Sies Dobbinga’s honour. How angry he was with Herman. “You have to keep up your family’s honour,” he said.

My sister Griet remained unmarried for a long time and lived in West Terschelling. She did later marry Jilles Kooiman.

I myself went to the mainland. First I had to go into service, and then to the Heide Maatschappij School in Arnhem. I became an overseer with that Association, and after I married I lived in Vlagtwedde, where I supervised the digging of canals and the reclamation of many Westerwolde estates. Later we came to live in Winschoten, and as I write this I am retired and living, in Groningen.