Peter Mulder – Study Group Board
Board member Study Group Missing Soldier
As a child Peter Mulder was fascinated by World War II. He’s not sure why but perhaps it is because of the stories told by his family. For example, an aunt of his mother who was locked up in a camp during the war and on her arm she had a sloppy tattoo. Curious and yet a little afraid, he looked at the numbers as a child. Maybe his interest came because of his grandmother who lived in Waddinxveen (Netherlands). She had seen ashes falling down the sky after Rotterdam (Netherlands) bombardment or by stories about the bombing they experienced themselves. Peters grandparents hiding for the enemy and later together with his during the war born father. Or was it his grandpa who said he had to exchange milk for potato peals so Peters mother could eat. And he grew his own tobacco, so he could smoke. Many war stories….
Peters grandparents lived in Boskoop (Netherlands) where his grandfather had his own tree plantation. This is where you could often find Peter there when he was young. One day he and found a U.S. helmet. Somewhat startled his grandfather searched the area to see if anything else was buried. From that day the search for World War II traces didn’t let Peter go.
The Missing
It later became more professional and he bought his first metal detector. He visited the famous battlefields in the Netherlands and Belgium and found many wonderful and interesting World War II relics. On the Internet he had seen stories from people who found ‘dogtags’. It was through these ‘tags’ a soldier could be identified in case the worst should happen. Reading those articles the question arose; what happened to the soldier who the tags belonged to? Is he still alive, dead, buried or worse, is he missing?
Later he learned what ‘missing’ meant for families. His father in law had been betrayed and was arrested by the Germans. The Germans thought he participated in arms droppings in the Krim, Overijssel (Netherlands) and hiding the arms on a farm. They locked him in the “House of Detention“, in Almelo (Netherlands). Until there, his wife’s family knew where he was. From Almelo he went to a labor camp and this is where he died. Through Red Cross effort he was eventually found in a mass grave. After positive identification he was buried at the Dutch war cemetery in Loenen (Netherlands). This made it possible for his mother in law to visit her husbands grave.
Organization
When Tino Dam reached out to Peter with plans to set up a foundation with the goal to trace missing soldiers, Peter didn’t hesitate one minute. After World War II, the government promised to do everything they could to trace the dead and missing soldiers and providing them a dignified resting place. Nowadays, not much seems noticeable of this promise. Through new circulars, imposed by the government, it becomes increasingly difficult to actively search for missing persons. For various aircraft wrecks it is known where they crashed and that there could still be missing persons inside. But because of financial reasons the government will not recover those aircraft, except when relatives explicitly asks for it. Unfortunately relatives often don’t know about these field graves.
No, remembrance in the Netherlands is limited to a few commercials two weeks before May 4 and 5, followed by the climax; the commemoration of May 4 (Remember those who fought and/or died for our freedom) and May 5 (WWII Liberation of the Netherlands). The fact that we need to remember is obvious and it’s a nice gesture. But where the government is failing its promise, we as a Study Group will, where possible, make every effort to trace WWII missing personnel.
Peter Mulder as a Official DPAA volunteer
Since April 2018 Peter Mulder is an official United States Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) volunteer.