A magnificent memorial to the Dutch Navy and their role in the Second World War is to be erected overlooking the harbour at Holyhead.
Holyhead port, standing as a gateway to Liverpool, the UK’s most important convoy destination during World War Two, played a major part in the pivotal Battle of the Atlantic and so did the men of the Royal Dutch Navy and Dutch merchant marine.
They had narrowly escaped as the German Blitzkrieg rolled into Holland in May, 1940, and many of the men – and ships – found their way to Holyhead where they played their part in the Allied victory.
That part is now to be recognised by a Dutch Mariners Memorial created in stone, bronze, oak and concrete and standing on land above Newry Beach and close to the award-winning Holyhead Maritime Museum.
It has been designed by top restoration architects Purcell, who have worked on Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral and Liverpool’s St George’s Hall as well as on the Holyhead Cenotaph, and has just received planning permission.
The stone will come from the former Jersey Quarry, in Holyhead’s Breakwater Country Park, gifted to the project by Isle of Anglesey County Council, with a bronze emblem of the Royal Dutch Navy set in a cast concrete circle and with benches made from local oak or salvaged teak.
One of the volunteers at the Maritime Museum has a special reason to welcome the memorial. Graham Van Weert’s father, Mathieu, was an 18-year-old when he fled Holland and made his way to Holyhead via Portsmouth and Falmouth.
“They just took whatever ships they could to stop the Germans getting them,” said Graham, 60, a retired fireman, who is writing a book about the Dutch Navy in Holyhead.
“Twenty-three of them took a cruiser, the Jacob Van Heemskerk, which normally had a crew of 400 and sailed it across the North Sea.
“Many of them ended up here in Holyhead like my father and many of them were on minesweeping duties because Holyhead was very important because it was on the Western Approaches and convoys sometimes called in on their way to Liverpool.
“A lot of them settled down here like my father. He married my mother whose name was Megan Parry and my grandparents were quite sceptical about people who came from away – they thought people from Beaumaruis were a bit strange.
“There used to be dances here and that’s how they met. She saw her future husband through a shop window and that was just one of so many romances.
“Altogether 116 Dutch sailors married local girls and many of the families were torn apart at the end of the war because they were treated as displaced nationals because they had married Dutch men and had to go back to Holland – lots of them had never been as far as Llangefni
“Luckily for my mum she didn’t have to go back to Holland then but she had to go to Liverpool to get a Dutch passport.
“I’ve still got lots of relatives over in Holland because my dad came from Maastricht and we used to go over there every year – there would be about 40 of them on the railway platform to meet us and they have been over here too.”
The funding for the Memorial has come from the Heritage Lottery Fund, through the Community Heritage Initiative for Maritime Engagement, CHIME, Isle of Anglesey Council’s Property and Environmental Fund, Holyhead Town Council and from local organisations and individuals.
Holyhead County Councillor and Deputy Leader of Anglesey Council Councillor J Arwel Roberts, said: “I’ve recently been to Ireland sand seen so many memorials to sea-faring people there so it’s great to see something like this here.
“It’s part of our heritage and history here in Holyhead and it’s important that we recognise and celebrate that.”
Architect Matt Osmont, of Purcell, said: “Graham and his colleagues at the Maritime Museum have been instrumental in pushing for the recognition of the part played by the Dutch Navy here in Holyhead.
“They played a fundamental part in keeping the Irish Sea clear for shipping through their minesweeping operations with so many convoys coming through these waters on their way to Liverpool.
“It’s wonderful that this memorial will celebrate the unique link between Holyhead and the navy of a different country and shows the gratitude of the people of Holyhead to the sailors of the Royal Dutch Navy who served alongside their own men.”
The project is being overseen by the award-winning Holyhead Maritime Museum and anyone who would like to contribute to the memorial can contact them at the Museum, at Newry Beach, Holyhead, or at www.holyheadmaritimemuseum.co.uk
Mathieu Van Weert served as far afield as the Pacific during the war before returning to set up home in Holyhead where he worked on the railways, repairing carriages and cattle wagons for the Irish Mail.
He was also a fine musician: “He was a famous drummer,” said Graham: “And he had his own band which played at local dances and was known as Mattie’s Band.
“It’s wonderful that the connection with the Dutch Navy is being recognised like this because Holyhead gave them a very warm welcome and there were Dutch Marines here too.
“It’s a remarkable link between Wales and Holland and it should be celebrated.”
