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pi2 weekender april 24 1993 uxbridge s john van kessel revisits the war every two years john van kessel still remembers the first three words of english he learned after coming to canada from his native holland 41 years ago no yes and whiskey and while the likable uxbridge area resident has managed to upgrade his english vocabulary consid erably since then he has also held onto the memo- from where live bruce stapley ries some of them painful of his early twenties spent in the dutch army john was a truck driver from 194750 with the dutch armys 511 regiment infantry a battalion made up of some 1000 soldiers all of them born in 1927 after a training period in their home country 777 of these boys were deemed fit for duty in indonesia a group of islands in the far east that were known in those days as the dutch east indies the dutch were attempt ing to restore some sem blance of order among the rival factions of that coun try after it was abandoned by the japanese who had occupied it during world war ii johns regiment was assigned to the north part of the large island of suma tra he still recalls every man who went down 17 in all and that 14 were killed in action two died of pontiac perfprmance dealers give you reasons to buy buick regal vs the competition 1993 buick regal custom sedan not exactly as shown drive a regal for 3436 less than a camry le regal custom sedan comes equipped with 31 litre v6 engine 4speed automatic transmission dual zone air conditioning cruise control power windows amfm stereo cassette power door locks tilt steering 24 hour roadside assistance 3 year60000 km gm total warranty buick regal custom sedan special order incredible low price fr under 18888 cshbck with sta v bk mm m four more reasons regal has it over camry regal has a longer wheelbase regal has more headroom than camry regal has more interior space than camry regal has more trunk space than camry one more reason to hurry in offer ends may 31 your pontiac performance dealers a 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to recovery john immigrated to cana da two years after obtain ing his discharge he caught oh with gener al motors in oshawa almost immediately work ing with the giant automaker until his retire ment in 1983 with a job to guarantee his sustenance he was able to sponsor his fiance dianas immigration to this country and the two were married in 1953 the van kessels bought a 50acre hobby farm just outside of uxbridge where according to john they now grow sweet onions the size of grapefruits some thing to do with the fertil izer applied to the garden all those years by the pigs who were using it as a pen but after all these years away from his native hol land john has still man aged to maintain his ties with the battalion with which he endured such dif ficult conditions in the late 1940s since 1978 he and diana have made a pilgrimage of sorts every two years join ing his old army mates in his native land last september 415 of the remaining 500 or so members gathered john recognized each and every man along with two other former regiment members and their wives living in ontario john and diana made an 18day side trip returning to sumatra the men walked the same ground upon which they had been forced to tread so stealthily back in the late 40s they just stood silent as they reached the river side where two of their mates had been brutally killed and thrown into the water they also ventured into other parts of the island where they saw women up to their knees in the rice fields while the men plowed the fields with water buffalo stomping through the mud barefoot they also visited tea cof fee pineapple and rubber plantations the group even saw steaming hot water being piped out of a still grum bling volcano using a bor rowed video camera john made his first ever travel film taking a total of six hours worth of film he would eventually edit into a one and a half hour trav elogue upon his return home john is already looking forward to next years reunion counting the days until may 8 1994 itktvtx