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Page 1 of 2 Saturday 29 April 2006 saw sport and respect bridge the generations as a group of young Dutch rugby players paid tribute to their towns liberators at the Pontypridd War Memorial.
Atop the Common overlooking Pontypridd is the town’s war memorial, a huge obelisk dedicated to all who served or died during the two world wars. But those who make the effort to visit the monument will notice a large stone to the left of the main monument bearing a simple plaque.
The stone is dedicated to members of the 53rd Welsh Division and the 5th (Glamorgan) Battalion the Welch Regiment, many of whom were residents of Pontypridd and the surrounding area, who were involved in liberating the Dutch city of s-Hertogenbosch during October 1944.
Any visitors to the memorial at around noon on Saturday 29 April 2006 would have seen the strange site of a hundred or more young Dutch rugby players and their coaches stomping around in their clogs.
These were representatives of s-Hertogenbosch youth, junior and mini rugby side the Dukes. Beside them stood their Pontypridd counterparts who had hosted them over the weekend, along with dozens of Veterans from the Pontypridd (s-Hertogenbosch) Branch of The Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot) Regimental Association, Air Cadets, the Deputy Mayor of Pontypridd and Emlyn Jenkins the Lord Mayor of Rhondda Cynon Taff. They were all there to pay their respects to those who took part in the battle and particularly those who gave their lives so others could live in freedom.
The ceremony was lead by Lt Colonel Gareth Pennell (Ret.) and Robert Herbschleb of the Dukes Rugby Club s-Hertogenbosch. The tribute was made more poignant by the presence of Vivian Moore and Emyrs Davies, two surviving veterans of the battle, who themselves laid wreaths at the service along with the two mayors and three young female members of Dukes Rugby. The tribute was full of emotion as Cpl Nigel Jones the bugler of the 3rd Battalion The Royal Welsh played the last-post, reminding the veterans of friends long lost and the young Dukes of how much they owe to those who gave their lives over sixty years before.
The ceremony ended with many old friends and even more new ones reminiscing, embracing or shaking hands.
‘s-Hertogenbosch (literally ‘Duke’s Woods’ in Dutch, hence Dukes Rugby Club; translates in French as Bois-le-Duc), unofficially it is also known as Den Bosch. It is a municipality in the Netherlands and the capital of the province of North Brabant, located in the south of the Netherlands, 60 miles south of Amsterdam.
The memorial reads:
“At dawn on the 22nd October 1944, 200 artillery pieces opened fire on the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch heralding the attack by infantry and armour of the 53rd Welsh Division that was to defeat the German troops who had occupied the city since 1940.
The 5th Battalion the Welch Regiment formed part of the order of battle of the 53rd Welsh Division.
At the end of the battle the 53rd Welsh Division had lost 123 dead, 75 missing and 270 wounded. 5th Welch had lost 11 dead, 66 missing and 50 wounded. The city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch had lost 118 dead and 80 seriously wounded.
This stone commemorates those Welsh and Dutch lives lost during the liberation of ‘s-Hertogenbosch and the friendship that has since developed between the citizens of Wales and the Netherlands.
Voor de dappere burger van ‘s-Hertogenbosch.Die jaren van zware onderdrukking heft weerstaan.”
One survivor of the town Bert Buitenhuis recalls “On Saturday, October 21. grenades fell on our neighborhood for the first time and than on the afternoon of Sunday 22. all hell broke loose, 4.2-inch mortar grenades, firing from "Hinthammerpark" by the 1st Battalion Manchester’s heavy weapons from the British 53rd Division, fell at intervals of 15 minutes on the "Bossche Pad" and "Graafseweg" making a few victims.
My father said we should flee to the air-raid shelter on the sandy field that was located on the crossing "Orthenseweg" and "Aartshertogenlaan and so we fled to the shelter with many people, while still under the fire of the grenades. My place was near the open entry and I saw the grenades falling. The moment that the firing stopped my family went to the center of the town and came in the shelter from the store "Simon de Wit" where our neighbor was the store manager.
5 minutes after we where in the shelter the Germans blew up the bridge we just came over. We lived in the shelter until the towns liberation on October 25. I can remember that we had diner every day from beans and spice cake and Lemonade to drink. On one night I woke-up from explosions of grenades and when I turned round I looked in a big hole in an arm from a man, a fragment from a grenade wounded him.
The battle from the center of the town was very heavy, the next morning everything was stock-still, but suddenly there was glass rattle and heavy gunfire. After 10 minutes the door from the shelter was opened and there stood a British soldier from the Royal Welch Fusiliers, he said that we could come out of the shelter because the liberation was complete.”
See: http://members.home.nl/bert.buitenhuis/indexgb.html
The bond that has developed between Pontypridd and 's-Hertogenbosch was clearly evident with parents, coaches and even players of Pontypridd RFC housing the Dutch in their own homes over the weekend.
It was a busy weekend for the Dukes players and Pontypridd RFC.
The young Dutch side arrived at Sardis Road on Friday evening 28 April where they were greeted by several members of Pontypridd RFC's Mini and Junior Section, including two of the key organisers for the weekend, Pontypridd RFC's Junior Rugby Chairman Martyn Lewis and the principal organiser Mark Langford. Following a buffett, the younger Dukes were taken away by parents of Junior players who had volunteered to house the kids over the weekend.
Saturday morning the Dukes were given a training session with two of Pontypridd's younger players in Dai Flanagan and Adam Powell, both of whom are Wales Under 21 players. A short visit to Pontypridd town centre to buy some souvenirs preceded the above ceremony.
They then travelled away to Pontypridd's match against Glamorgan Wanders, before returning to Sardis Road for a BBQ and party.
Sunday the Dukes awoke for the business of rugby. Their mini section participated in the Pontypridd Rugby Tournament that involved several local sides such as Treorchy, St Marys, Llandaff, Nelson and of course Pontypridd.
Their junior section played matches against Pontypridd Under 12’s and 14’s, whilst their youth played a match against Pontypridd Under 16’s whom they had met a year previously.
The day ended with the Tournament Presentation to the mini players that had participated, with trophies given out by the former Pontypridd player and British Lion Gethin Jenkins. This was followed by a presentation between the Dukes and their hosts Pontypridd RFC where gifts and pleasantries were exchanged along with several e-mails or phone numbers as the next morning the Dukes departed for the Netherlands after an eventful weekend.
The Dutch Dukes Rugby have offered to return the compliment next year should some of our junior section go to Holland to participate in their tournament.
The initial point of contact that formed the bond between the two rugby clubs occurred when Pontypridd RFC Under 15's travelled to Holland in 2005 to participate in the Dukes annual tournament that the young Ponty side won outright, despite competing against older sides after entering the wrong age group!
Long may the bond continue, both between the rugby clubs and their respective town’s.
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