"Jo "Freek" Bastiaanse, Dutch resistance hero" Topic

Jo Bastiaanse passed away, 87 years old, in his home city Groningen.

His name will mean nothing to you, but he is illustrative of the generation of WWII resistance fighters who are now leaving us one by one.

Under the war-time alias of Freek (short for Frederik) Jo headed a group of 11 young restance fighters who raided the Assen prison in December 1944, liberating 31 fellow resistance fighters who had been caught by the Germans, and now faced a certain death.

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Bastiaanse was laid to rest on Friday, next to his wife Gonnie who preceeded him, in Pijnacker. The two met during the war, Gonnie was a courier, smuggling messages from one group to another.

May they both rest in well deserved peace.

We owe them more than we could ever repay.

What a brave couple.
RIP.

Godspeed, Mr. and Mrs. Bastiaanse, and thank you two very, very much for risking your lives and succeeding against tyranny in WWII. May your unselfish deeds be forever remembered and discussed. I salute you two.

Thank you for sharing their story, Gungnir.

Thanks Gungnir,
They had a rare kind of courage.

WWII resistance fighters were amazing, given the sometimes unbelievable lack of supplies and weapons that they faced on a daily basis while fighting the Axis. Very important to the Allied cause.

Rest easy.

RIP

Thank you for bringing this up.

I'l pass this on my wife who has spent years studying the British SOE and their support of the European Resistance movement.