TOON VERSTEDEN, WE WILL REMEMBER YOU.
Although it has now been more than 75 years since the end of the Second World War, it is still important to commemorate all the Allies who were involved in the fighting in and around Goirle. These victims of Goirle are people who fought for our freedom in the Netherlands during the Second World War. They died as a result of acts of war. G. Kobes wrote in 2016: "I want to remind you of the casualties among the Allied troops. To the young men who, far from their homeland, had to pay with their lives for the fight for our freedom. The price is unimaginably high, there is an empty space in millions of families." "They, along with many others, gave their lives for our freedom.''
Toon Versteden was one of them and died on 11 May 1940 at the age of 20.
His story:
Toon Versteden is the eldest of 12 children in the family of Antonius Josephus Cornelis Versteden (*1892 - † 1954) and Maria Paulina van Laarhoven (*1894 - † 1965). His parents married on 15 July 1918 in Goirle. Toon was born on Wednesday, August 6, 1919.
Nationality: Dutch * Registration No: 190806038 * Part: 3rd. Compagnie 6th Depot Battalion at Delft.
What happened?
In the autumn of 1939, when the threat of war also increased sharply for the Netherlands, Toon was conscripted into the Royal Netherlands Army and was assigned as a soldier to the 3-6 Depot Battalion in Delft. There he was part of the defence of the Fortress of Holland.
On 10 May 1940, the German army invaded the Netherlands. He is assigned to the 22. Depot Company Guard Troops.
The German Luftwaffe flies ahead of the ground troops to capture strategic targets further away in Holland with paratroopers and Germany hopes to force the Netherlands to capitulate quickly. In Delft, too, fierce fighting broke out between the Dutch defenders and German paratroopers.
On that first day of the war, Toon was seriously wounded by a bullet in his right thigh. The next day, when he is found lying in a ditch, only then can Toon be taken to the Hippolytus Hospital in Delft to safety.
In the late evening of 11 May 1940, Toon succumbed to excessive blood loss and an infection. Toon was 20 years old at the time.
Grave location
He was first buried in Delft and later reburied with great interest in September 1940 at the Municipal Cemetery St. Jan in Goirle. Then, in 1984, he was moved and buried in the cemetery's field of honour. His name is on the monument for the fallen in Delft and on the monument of the Municipal Cemetery St. Jan in Goirle (RK part). * His grave no.: is C.1.2 * Link to [[Field of Honour Goirle]] https://wikimiddenbrabant.nl/EREveld_Goirle Distinction
In addition to the military and national decorations for the fallen, Toon was also presented with a certificate posthumously on behalf of the union. This certificate hangs in the Goirlese museum "De Vyer Heertganghen" in the war corner with the images of all the fallen of the years '40-'45.
Commemorations
https://brabantsegesneuvelden.nl/persoon/toon-versteden-goirle-1919
https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/tijdlijn/Antonius-Cornelis-Wilhelmus-Versteden/02/159948
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/68735/Versteden-Antonius-Cornelis-Wilhelmus.htm
Sources
Tilburg Regional Archives: Birth certificate, Death certificate 66
Research: G. Kobes and G. v.d. Klundert- Bertens * https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/
FREED FROM OBLIVION ---LEST WE FORGET THEM.
DONATE TO OUR CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
Your donation supports projects like this one, which educate and involve future generations in remembering those who fell in the two world wars. Your support helps us keep their stories alive. Thank you.
