Search for the grave of Ernest
67 years after his death the field grave of the Canadian soldier Ernest Harrison might be found. Soon the search will start in Leuth.
By Geert Willems
The 77 year old Beatrice Messinger keeps a close eye on the temperature in the Netherlands from Vancouver. As soon as the frost sets in, the field research can finally start on the field in Leuth where her brother Ernest David Harrison, who died in January 1945, probably has his field grave. The field is currently still too wet.
The search for the Young Canadian soldier was initiated by a friend of Beatrice, who saw an old, framed letter hanging on her wall. The German preacher Karl Missbach wrote this letter just after the war to mother Harrison. The preacher told her he that was in the neighborhood when her son, only 20 years young, on a patrol through the Ooijpolder was shot and met his end. The preacher also wrote that he had a Christian funeral and indicated the location of the grave quite accurately, ‘in a village called Leuth’.
“Shall I search for him”, asked the friend of Beatrice and ever since that moment she has found no peace of mind. She lost two brothers in the war. Her eldest brother, Arthur John ‘Bud’ died in June 1944 in Normandy, 4 days after D-Day. This inspired her brother Ernest to also join the army. He died just before the Operation Veritable took place in which allied forces fought themselves from the wall of Nijmegen into the Rhineland. “The saddest part for me: one was given a proper grave… but the other’s place of rest was unknown’, she writes in an open letter which she sent a while back to the inhabitants of the Ooijpolder.
Through a number of people Beatrice was able to include several people in the Netherlands to the search for her brother. That’s how she got in touch with Jose Levelink from Arnhem and jan van Eck from Leuth. Beatrice asked her friend Helen in Canada, who is of Dutch origin, if she could help her. “Helen called me because she had found my phone number on a website”, tells Jan van Eck. “It turned out we knew each other. Helen comes from Utrecht originally but regularly stayed at her aunt’s in Leuth after the war as a young girl. She even remembered that this aunt would sometimes after (Sunday) mass walk up the dike to pray for a deceased Canadian soldier.”
With the help of the descriptions of the German preacher, aerial photographs of 1935 and cadastral drawings (of the farm) from 1984 it has been established that the 20-year old Ernest was buried near the Duffeltdijk in Leuth. Against the embankment of the dike which used to be the farm ‘The Dijkhoeve’, which the Germans used as ammunition depot during the war. The farm was bombed, totally destroyed and later rebuilt fifty meters further.
In the winter of 44-45 the Ooijpolder was a front line. After the (failed) Operation Market Garden the allied forces were on the moraine and the Germans defended their homeland (Heimat) behind the polder dikes. The local population had already been evacuated. With Operation Veritable the liberators attempted to force a breakthrough. Soldier Ernest Harrison was sent on a reconnaissance patrol with a sergeant to map out the German defense lines. Ernest was killed while the sergeant was wounded. Veritable was to take place a few days later, the Germans eventually damaged the dikes to defend themselves, which flooded the polder.
In those tense days Ernest must have had an improvised funeral. According the preacher he was laid down in the garden of the farm. In that location the first search will take place. Recently Ernest’s sister Beatrice visited Leuth and stood on the Duffeltdijk, close to her brother’s alleged grave.
By Geert Willems
The 77 year old Beatrice Messinger keeps a close eye on the temperature in the Netherlands from Vancouver. As soon as the frost sets in, the field research can finally start on the field in Leuth where her brother Ernest David Harrison, who died in January 1945, probably has his field grave. The field is currently still too wet.
The search for the Young Canadian soldier was initiated by a friend of Beatrice, who saw an old, framed letter hanging on her wall. The German preacher Karl Missbach wrote this letter just after the war to mother Harrison. The preacher told her he that was in the neighborhood when her son, only 20 years young, on a patrol through the Ooijpolder was shot and met his end. The preacher also wrote that he had a Christian funeral and indicated the location of the grave quite accurately, ‘in a village called Leuth’.
“Shall I search for him”, asked the friend of Beatrice and ever since that moment she has found no peace of mind. She lost two brothers in the war. Her eldest brother, Arthur John ‘Bud’ died in June 1944 in Normandy, 4 days after D-Day. This inspired her brother Ernest to also join the army. He died just before the Operation Veritable took place in which allied forces fought themselves from the wall of Nijmegen into the Rhineland. “The saddest part for me: one was given a proper grave… but the other’s place of rest was unknown’, she writes in an open letter which she sent a while back to the inhabitants of the Ooijpolder.
Through a number of people Beatrice was able to include several people in the Netherlands to the search for her brother. That’s how she got in touch with Jose Levelink from Arnhem and jan van Eck from Leuth. Beatrice asked her friend Helen in Canada, who is of Dutch origin, if she could help her. “Helen called me because she had found my phone number on a website”, tells Jan van Eck. “It turned out we knew each other. Helen comes from Utrecht originally but regularly stayed at her aunt’s in Leuth after the war as a young girl. She even remembered that this aunt would sometimes after (Sunday) mass walk up the dike to pray for a deceased Canadian soldier.”
With the help of the descriptions of the German preacher, aerial photographs of 1935 and cadastral drawings (of the farm) from 1984 it has been established that the 20-year old Ernest was buried near the Duffeltdijk in Leuth. Against the embankment of the dike which used to be the farm ‘The Dijkhoeve’, which the Germans used as ammunition depot during the war. The farm was bombed, totally destroyed and later rebuilt fifty meters further.
In the winter of 44-45 the Ooijpolder was a front line. After the (failed) Operation Market Garden the allied forces were on the moraine and the Germans defended their homeland (Heimat) behind the polder dikes. The local population had already been evacuated. With Operation Veritable the liberators attempted to force a breakthrough. Soldier Ernest Harrison was sent on a reconnaissance patrol with a sergeant to map out the German defense lines. Ernest was killed while the sergeant was wounded. Veritable was to take place a few days later, the Germans eventually damaged the dikes to defend themselves, which flooded the polder.
In those tense days Ernest must have had an improvised funeral. According the preacher he was laid down in the garden of the farm. In that location the first search will take place. Recently Ernest’s sister Beatrice visited Leuth and stood on the Duffeltdijk, close to her brother’s alleged grave.