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Veterans Honored in U.S. and Canada

November 11, 2015
Steve J. Van der Weele stands in front of the National World War II Memorial.

Steve J. Van der Weele stands in front of the National World War II Memorial.

Holly Rotindi, Friends of the National World War II Memorial

Steve J. Van der Weele, a retired professor of English at Calvin College, was among those who presented a wreath today during the annual Veterans Day commemoration at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Veterans Day commemorations took place all over the U.S. on Wednesday, while ceremonies occurred across Canada as part of Remembrance Day.

According to a Friends of the National World War II Memorial Facebook page, Van der Weele joined the Army Air Force in 1942, serving as a dispatcher at the Syracuse Army Air Base.

Vand der Weele, 95, a member of Neland Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids, Mich., mostly sent bomber crews overseas.

But that position changed.

“Due to Van der Weele's ability to speak Dutch, he was taken out of the Air Force and assigned to a new unit, the European Civil Affairs Division,” says the Facebook page.

“His unit’s primary responsibility was to assist liberated towns to get back on their feet as well as manage displaced persons camps and arrange for liberated prisoners and forced workers to return to their countries.”

After the Luddendorf Bridge was captured in 1945, says the page, Van der Weele's detachment crossed the Rhine River and took over Marburg, Germany, where he served as a clerk and interpreter for eight months until he was discharged.

In Canada, says the Canadian Broadcasting Company, “About 35,000 people young and old gathered at the National War Memorial in Ottawa today to honour and remember the Canadians who lost their lives fighting on behalf of their country in wars and military missions.”