Government officials, police officers, civil servants and students and teachers of Sacred Heart School (SHS) and Saba Comprehensive School (SCS) gathered at the monu­ment in The Bottom to com­memorate Memorial Day on Tuesday, May 4. The monu­ment commemorates victims of World War WII through­out the Dutch Caribbean, in­cluding eleven Sabans.

Island Governor Jonathan Johnson opened the cer­emony, saying this year was the 76th time that we have observed this day in the Dutch Caribbean islands. “We have the freedoms that we enjoy now because of the sacrifices made during World War II,” he said.

Following the governor’s address, an SCS student presented a poem, followed by the laying of wreaths by members of the Island and Executive Councils and stu­dents of SCS and SHS.

Everybody in attendance observed a moment of si­lence at 2:00pm, which co­incided with the commemo­rations in the Netherlands at 8:00pm, while the church bells rang.

Eight Sabans working on three transport tankers, Pad­emales, Oranjestad and Tia Juana, perished after their ships were torpedoed and sunk by German submarines in Aruba waters during the war. The Sabans who died on those three ships were James Stewart Cornet, John William Dunlock, Anthony Dudley Granger, Eric Nor­bert Linzey, Darcey Ken­neth Lynch, Clifford Achil­les Wilson, John Wilson and Walter Allen Winfield.

Sabans James Andrew Maxwell, Antonio Duran Woods and Henry Swinton Woods died on the Brit­ish oil tanker Punta Gorda when the vessel collided with a larger tanker in the Gulf of Venezuela on Sep­tember 18, 1944.

The Daily Herald.