Early on the 19th the group headed to the town of Best to meet with hosts HARRIE AND CHRISTIAN DIJKHUIZEN.
They led us to the bridge at Best, the Joe Mann Memorial and the location where Joe Mann gave his life for his comrades for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1944.
We visited the drop zone area of the 502 and gliders, and the place where Col. Robert Cole, 3rd Btn 502, lost his life on September 18, 1944.
Today in Best, the Medal of Honor for SSG Joe Hooper is also displayed.
SSG Hooper was awarded this medal for action above and beyond the call of duty in Vietnam. Joe Hooper, on visiting the Memorial for Joe Mann in Holland, was so moved by Joe Mann's sacrifice in saving his fellow Screaming Eagles' lives by placing his body on a German hand grenade before it exploded, that he took his medal and climbed to the top of the monument and placed his medal on the monument.
The Hooper medal was later secured by the town of Best and is displayed with the Honor display for Joe Mann in the town hall.
This day was special to Betty Taylor Hill, one
of the participants of Operation Torch, because her brother, Lester A. Taylor,
Item Company, 502, died September 19, 1944 near Best. We were able to pinpoint
the location of Taylor's platoon that Tuesday 62 years earlier between the Wilhelmina
Canal and the road intersection near the town of Best.
We stopped at the site of the temporary cemetary at Son (1944-1949) called Wolfswinkel, where we met with the three young men who have taken the initiative to have a monument placed there: Odwin Rullo, Christian Dijkhuizen and Mark Thunnissen.
The monument will mark the 4-year resting place of almost 400 soldiers before they were moved to Margraten or brought back to the States in 1949-9
We commend Odwin, Christian and Mark for this beautiful initiative to keep the memory alive and remembering the sacrifice. These three also are builders of bridges!
We were in awe of the vintage planes and the many exhibits at the Wings of Liberation Museum at Best.
