Son of English soldier visits Dreumel

In some letters he told about the village (names of villages were not allowed to be mentioned!), the serious damages of the R.C. Church and his encounters with some fathers of Scheut. They also stayed in Dreumel after the Germans instructed them to leave the Mgr. Hamerhuis in Nijmegen.

He met them during one of their walks through the village. Father van Helvert and father Linskens visited the English to improve their knowledge of the English language. In this way a daily contact between Sergeant Ponsford and the fathers arose. Wallace was a very faithful person. This was surely strengthened owing to the war.

Together with the fathers he visited the badly damaged R.C.Church.......

At that moment son Tony was 11 weeks old. His father was informed of his birth, but he could never see his boy.   

After the war his mother married again. Conversations about his father were very scarce.

Change arose when Tony received the correspondence between his father and mother shortly behore his mother died.

From that moment on he looked for all data about his father. He contacted the fathers, the veterans of the 43rd Recc Regiment and wrote a book. It became a war book about two people and the effect of a war for their lifes.

As a kind of pilgrimage Tony decided that it would be good to visit the villages mentioned by his father in his letters. At first he would make this trip with his son, but also other members of the family appeared to be interested.

And this was the reason why this morning at 11.00 o’clock this group of people were welcomed by Tremele at the church square. After an effusive welcome the church was visited. Herafter the former butcher’s shop of Nol van Wezel in the Rooijsestraat was visited, because Sgt. Ponsford always parked his vehicle before this shop.

Hereafter there was a stop on the Waaldijk at the former ferry-house of the family Voet (burnt down in 1945 caused by phosphorous shells.  During the war this ferry-house was an O.P. (Observation Post). Undoubtedly Sgt. Ponsford has passed many hours on this place.

After a tour over the dyke towards Alphen the farm was looked for where Wallace would have been quartered, but unfortunately not found. Then all persons went to the theatre Oké where a lunch was offered to the guests.

After two o’clock (and an ample “Dank-jewel!”, gifts and invitations for return-visits) the visitors and guests said farewell. (Starting from their places of residence this means a visit to a large part of England).

On Sunday the grave of Sgt. Ponsford was visited as well as the village Geilenkirchen (G) where Ponsford was killed.