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A short walk from the bus station and I found his place without getting lost at all thankfully... first time for everything. I think Michael and I have gotten lost almost every time we try to get to bible study without assistance. Now.. as I understand it.. Grandma may need to correct me if im wrong on this one!!... My great grandpa grew up in The Netherlands and moved to the US in 1905... but one of his brothers stayed there. Between then and 1951 there was no communication between our families. Henk was in the air force and training in Miami and a fellow pilot was headed home for a short trip and said he thought there was Den Besten's where he was from in northwest Iowa.. so Henk came with him to see if they were relatives! He arrived and everyone had a huge reception for him because they hadn't heard from anyone that long.
Henk flew for the air force.. then KLM for thirty some years.. along with doing air shows and such.. and just recently quit flying actually! He has been around the world and seen just about everything so it was awesome to talk to him! We decided to go look at some family history so we went into the garage..
I was in awe. The jeep was at Normandy and then moved along with the war and ended up in Belgium I believe.. where Henk bought it a few years after the war. All original. Still has bullet holes in it actually! Henk says he drives it around for everyday vehicle as soon as it warms up.. so I will definitely be going back to visit again. He also told me stories about growing up with the war.. planes fighting over Holland and even watching one crash in a nearby field and being one of the first ones there.
This is the house where my great grandpa grew up.. along with i would suppose my great great.. not sure how far back it goes? Help grandma!
We couldn't get inside but could see some of the original tile through the windows.. The family worked for a wealthy family nearby.. And long story short there is a lot of mystery involving that family and the royalty out here.. a round house in the forest.. a fire.. some people disappearing.. and lots of other interesting stuff! So I need to do a lot of research into some of this.. We do know though that the family had lots of foreign relations so my family got trees from all around the world and planted them.. including this one that is the tree that would have been used in Christ's crown.
Meeting family of mine all the way over here was awesome and I am sure I will spend more time with them while I am out here!
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