The German army had given the Dutch marines a last ultimatum of surrendering all the bridges, or the city would be bombed. The marines were too proud to give up their bridge position as they were well known for their bravery. The Dutch marines were highly looked at by the Dutch people. It was one of the best trained elite armed forces at the time in Holland. They were specially-picked men who had to join and sign for a six-year duty. Before the war, most marines were sent overseas for colonial duties on Dutch territories like Indonesia. The Dutch marine corps was one of the oldest in the world. It was established during the birth of the East Indies Company. So their tradition was never to give up, and would fight until the last man.
We sat on the first floor with some other neighbors and listened to the radio about the latest news. We just waited for the German bombers to come. My mother was holding my sister who was just six months old, and I carried a pillowcase filled with baby clothes and some family papers and pictures. As we all prayed nervously for God's help, the noise of planes in the air could be clearly heard everywhere. All of us were sure it would be the end of our lives. My mother told me years later that I asked her: "Mom, are we going to die now?" Not too far from us we could hear the fire bombs being dropped, as the front and back doors of the storage room kept swinging open due to the air pressure. Then suddenly bombs started to fall around us. Everything started to shake as if there was a big earthquake. We thought the whole building would collapse on top of us. Then there was a direct bomb hit on our building. I will never forget that moment in my life for as long as I live. As my mother held us close together, the whole building shook back and forth and then it started to collapse completely. We all thought we were going to die.
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