Oceans of Books

We all know the story of Anne Frank but unfortunately Anne wasn’t the only teenage who died in the camps. Helga Deen another teenage girl who lived in the Netherlands also died as result of the Nazi ideology and she also wrote a diary.

Helga Deen (6 April 1925 – 16 July 1943) was the author of a diary, discovered in 2004, which describes her stay in a Dutch prison camp, Kamp Vught, where she was brought during World War II at the age of 18.

Deen was half-Dutch. Initially her father lived with his German GP wife in Germany, but moved back to the Netherlands as persecution increased. Her mother worked for a time as a doctor at a concentration camp at Vught. She was given leave to remain but chose to accompany her family to Sobibor, where she died.

After her last diary entry, in early July…

Japanese destroyer sinks in Ormoc Bay

6 December – the main thrust of Operation Wa on Leyte, P.I. was provided by the Japanese 26th Division, minus the battalion that was attempting to protect Ormoc, but the enemy found it difficult to maintain their schedule given to them by the Manila headquarters.  General Suzuki requested a 2-day delay, but he was denied.

Only 300 Japanese paratroopers of the 16th Division were left after desertions to jump on the Buraen airfield.  The 700 troopers of the 3rd Parachute Regiment, flying in from Luzon, ran into heavy flak and lost 4 planes.  The remaining Japanese

Major Shirai Tsuneharu suiting up for Leyte jump.

aircraft dropped their troopers on the 11th Airborne Headquarters Company.  [Smitty’s unit] (an eye witness story on this will appear on another day.)

8→9 December – 500 more enemy paratroopers were assigned to to jump on an airfield…

To be honest, I am not a woman to sit idol for very long. And I always try to find good beyond the negative in life.

 From animal rescues, working with a rescued mustang, dog training, poetry, working with horses and dabbling in my third novel, that had come to a complete halt about three months ago. Egging myself on with a guilt trip beyond ego and pride. When I finally took a breath.  I stopped trying to put words on paper. Until this last week. I stopped and asked myself what I am trying to accomplish, with all my busyness?

First and foremost in my busyness, I don’t want to have a bucket list. I want to be a part of the good I see in this world. I want to inspire desire and float my own boat. Yet sometimes something strikes and makes a person question their efforts…

Bored. Bored beyond belief. Bored to tears. I grab my trainers and go for a walk. Bored of the terraced houses. And semi-similar hatchbacks parked out-side semi-similar houses. Not so bored as clouds step aside and allow the sun to pour down on me. I grab my chance and sit on a bench in a graveyard. Restless. The bench a commemoration to a young man gone too soon.      Bored.  Of people passing by and people passing away.    Headstones line the neatly mown grass and fresh flowers adorn the sides of headstones. They tilt towards the names of the deceased. Bored ghosts. Wandering amidst the stones waiting for the ice cream van to come along. Its shrilling tune like a kaleidoscopic waterfall across their soul-sensitive auras. The children rush and so do the ghosts. A 99 flake. A double-blob on a large cone. A twister. Dig deep into…