If there is one

characteristic that comes through loud and clear when

talking with Jan and Catrina Krakeel, it is strength

- strength of character, of commitment, to their

values and to their family.

From the small towns of

Kierikzee and Krommenie in Holland to Fayette County,

through all the various struggles they've encountered,

their strengths have been the constant that kept them

together and content with their lives.

Jan grew up in Kierikzee,

in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. The town

was small with fewer than 5,000 people and was on an

island, the only accessibility by boat. "At that

time, it was a big town," he notes.

He had seven brothers and

three sisters. Life was fairly unremarkable and

predictable until the Germans invaded. In 1943, as a

result of the occupation, the family had to leave its

home.

"We left all behind,

taking only our clothes," he said. "Everything

we had worked for, the house and all that was in it were

left behind."

The family moved to

Krommenie, where they were unable to stay together,

although they were close and spent a lot of time

together. The Germans regularly swept through town to

round up men from the ages of 17 or 18 to 45. As Jan was

18, soon to be 19, he had to hide to avoid being picked

up and shipped to Germany to work in the salt mines,

factories or concentration camps.

Jan recounts that usually

the underground knew when the Germans were coming and

warned the men in hiding. They would hide in closets,

under walls, in the fields or where ever they could.

One of the places where he

stayed when he first moved to Krommenie had a good hiding

place. There were two closets near each other along a

wall, and between the two closets there was a space with

standing room for three.

"During the time,

there was not a lot of food," he says.

"Everything was rationed. We went to farmers by

bicycle and took stuff to trade for food."

They traded new shoes, any

gold they may have accumulated, anything of value for

food. They would ride for hours by bicycle, stay

overnight with the farmers and then return home the next

day with whatever they had been able to garner.

Even in the country while

sleeping in the farmers' barns, they were always on the

alert for Germans. The underground couldn't warn them and

they were in unfamiliar territory. "We had to have

eyes in the back, front, side - everywhere," he

said.

During one particularly

harrowing experience, the warning came around 4 a.m. that

the Germans were making another sweep. He and eight

others, including one of his brothers, jumped into a boat

to cross over to a field to hide.

There was a sewage or

concrete pit where they had hidden before and so they

headed in that direction. Unfortunately, a German soldier

was on a nearby bridge, saw them and started shooting at

them. The men in the front jumped out, pushing the boat

back toward the wrong shore.

They split up, some running

into a house, Jan and another into a nearby newspaper

warehouse. "It was a real small warehouse filled

with rolls of newspapers," he said.

They locked the doors and

hid, hoping for the best. The soldiers came, tried the

doors and moved on without checking. They were very

fortunate that night as five men were picked up.

Jan spent the last months

of the war in the country with a farmer who had

befriended him earlier. He tells of the clotheslines that

became the warning system. There was one that was never

used unless Germans were in the area. They knew if

clothes were on it that they needed to hide, going to the

back of the fields or to the river.

Three months before the war

ended, the Germans blew up the dike, flooding the entire

town so that Allied paratroopers couldn't land. During

this period Jan had another close encounter.

Early one morning, he and

some others were trying to salvage furniture and other

belongings from the houses that had been flooded. The

flood waters had reached over six feet high, destroying

much.

Crossing the bridge with a

load of furniture, they were stopped by Germans and asked

for their papers. They tried to convince the soldier that

their papers had been lost in the water.

The farmer friend saw what

was happening and came to their aid, managing to convince

the German to let them go. They were told to report to

the local courthouse at 10:00 a.m. with papers in hand.

Needless to say, they did not appear.

During the earlier part of

Jan's stay in Krommenie, he met Catrina. Her father

thought he was a nice, quiet young man and so he invited

him to play cards with his family. Soon Jan and Catrina

were together on a regular basis. They rode bikes

together to get food, played many card games at each of

the family "homes." Approximately five years

later, in 1949, they married.

During the early part of

the war, Catrina had worked in a home, helping with a

family's small children. Her mother died, then her older

sister married and moved away, so she moved home to help

take care of her father and siblings.

To try and paint an

accurate image of the war years is difficult. They did

not have electricity, heat or running water. Food was

scarce and many of the basics weren't available. Wood was

even scarcer due to the prevalence of water and the

terrain.

"It was almost

unbelievable. We had a special little stove to cook on.

Later we didn't have salt. We would go once a week or so

to get a spoon full of soup. Everything in it was

artificial. Don't ask me how it tasted," she said

with obvious disgust.

Curfew was at six. Lights

had to be out. All the windows were covered with black

material to keep the little bit of light from the oil

lamps from shining through. Bedtime came early and nights

were often filled with the sounds of the Germans routing

through houses looking for men.

Planes often flew over,

bombs were dropping and people were shot. The unlucky

ones who didn't have gold or belongings to trade

sometimes died on the road as they traveled.

One fear-filled night,

Catrina woke to noise and peeked out her window only to

see Germans all around. They were once again going from

house to house looking to commandeer recruits. That

particular night they rounded up around forty men, taking

them to the church across from her house. She fearfully

searched the faces of each man, hoping not to see Jan. He

was lucky that night and escaped the roundup.

Finally, the end of the war

came. Jan had been living in the country with a farmer,

traveling into Krommenie with food and supplies when

available. Luckily, he was in town when the news came

that they were finally free.

Catrina said of the

celebration, "You can not believe how big the feast

was." Jan says, "For the first time we could

walk and go anywhere."

Although the war was over,

the difficult times were not. Families watched at the

train station, hoping their loved ones would return. Many

did, but many did not. Rebuilding was not easy.

When the Krakeels married,

in the back of Jan's mind was the idea that he wanted to

move away. New Zealand was his first choice. He says,

"The decision to leave your home is not an easy one,

but if you go through a war like we did - and I don't

mention every aspect - you wonder when it is going to

happen again."

At that time the memory of

the war was still recent. Russia was still a strong

player. Also, the unemployment rate in Europe was high

and even higher in Holland.

Jan's brother had

immigrated to the United States and convinced him that he

should bring join him. After much thought and discussion,

the Krakeels made the choice to move to the U.S. With

five children in tow, ages ranging from two to ten, the

family traveled the ocean to their new home, arriving at

then-Idelwood Airport on Thanksgiving Day in 1960.

Oldest son Jack has a vivid

memory of his father being interviewed by a newspaper

reporter at the airport. "I don't know why they were

talking with him," he said. "But I distinctly

remember seeing him paging back and forth through a

Dutch- English dictionary to try and communicate with

them."

They had $100, did not

speak the language and Jan soon found he did not have a

job as expected. He was a master plumber in Holland, but

it was the middle of the winter and work was scarce. The

family stayed with Jan's brother for a few months before

moving across town into their own place.

Times were difficult. Jan

found a variety of jobs, finally going to work in

maintenance at a local hospital. The family learned a new

language and Jan moved up to the position of assistant

engineer. Later he began working for an insurance company

as a boiler and machinery inspector.

Jan has always been

impressed with the opportunities available in this

county. "In the United States if you have knowledge

and want to work hard you can make it or go broke,"

he said. "Free enterprise is a beautiful thing for

those who want to work. If you want to work two jobs you

can.

"In Holland, you must

have a degree to set up your own business. For example,

to set up a heating and plumbing business, you must have

a three-year plumbing degree, then two years for the

heating and then get a bookkeeping certificate. You must

be able to operate for one year without financial help.

They are very strict. If you want to work overtime your

boss must have permission from the local

authorities."

With a multi-state

territory, Jan traveled a great deal with his job. But

according to Jack, "He was always home on Sunday and

most Saturdays too. My parents believed very strongly in

the core family unit.

"We had tough times as

many families do," he contined. "I knew we

weren't rich, but we had a very tight-knit family and

material things didn't seem to matter."

Catrina sewed all of the

family's clothes. "I don't like to sew, I hate

it," she said.

"But sewing saved me a

lot of money over the years. Now I don't have to do that

anymore."

She enjoys embroidery,

knitting, and crochet. Through the years she has knitted

socks, gloves and "anything and everything" for

the family.

In discussing their life,

Jan stated, "If I look back, and I look at my kids,

how they have turned out, my immigration was a

success."

Catrina added, "Of

course there have to be ups when there are downs. We have

a close-knit family, we laughed together many times. We

were a very happy family and still are. We are so very

lucky. It is great to have a family like we do. We are

still very much together."

Jan and Catrina Krakeel

recently celebrated their 50th anniversary, renewing

their wedding vows at St. Gabriel Catholic Church. Jan

quipped, "50 long, hard years.... no, they were very

happy years. I have to make a joke sometimes!"

They are proud of their six

sons and their accomplishments. Pride in their family and

the strength of their family were consistent themes

throughout the recounting of their lives.

Jack has been in the local

newspapers frequently during the past few weeks. The

Fayette County fire chief was recently named the Fire

Chief of the Year by the Fire Chief Magazine, being

nominated by the International Fire Chiefs Association.

Second-born son John is the

superintendent for a large construction company. He is

married to Margaret and has two children.

Gary, next in line, is an

underwriter for an insurance company. He has two girls

and is married to Kathy.

Rudy works with General

Motors and has recently moved to Charlotte with wife

Terry. They have one daughter who is currently attending

college.

Son Peter is married to

Cheryl. He works for the Clayton County Maintenance

Department and lives in Fayetteville. They have two

children.

The youngest son, Alan, is

the only child born in the United States. He works for

the Fayette County Water Department. He is married to

Karen and has two children currently in elementary

school.

Jan says, "I'm still

waiting to be a great-grandfather."

The Krakeels are active

members of St. Gabriel Catholic Church. Jan belongs to

the Knights of Columbus.

There were numerous family

stops prior to the Krakeels' move to Fayetteville after

retirement. Their first U.S. stop was in Greenville, S.C.

They then moved to Charlotte, N.C., to Raleigh, then six

months later to Atlanta.

They lived in Conyers, then

in Jonesboro. They weren't here permanently, though,

moving to Mobile, then back to Jonesboro, then to Mobile,

then back to Jonesboro.

When Jack bought a house in

Fayetteville, he told his parents he would remodel the

downstairs for them when they retired. They retired, Jack

remodeled and now the Krakeels are happily ensconced in

Fayetteville.

Jan enjoys woodworking,

hunting and fishing. Catrina is an avid Braves and

baseball fan. She often has a game going on the TV while

she listens to the game on the radio.

Opera is another favorite

of hers. For the couple's 50th wedding anniversary one of

their children gave them tickets of choice to see an

opera. She is watching the newspapers for just the right

one.

Catrina is also an avid

reader. She particularly likes Danielle Steel and Dana

Andrews, although she says of the newspapers, "I

couldn't live without them."

When Jan retired at 63, he

didn't really retire. He took up a hobby which soon

turned into a thriving business. After ten years of

successful woodworking, going to craft shows and

ultimately working "more hours than I did with the

company I retired from," he said "this is

enough." Now he makes things for his children and

grandchildren "for enjoyment."

The Krakeels visit Holland

every other year. They are undecided as to whether they

will make the trek again next year. Jan said, "I'm

75 now. I'm still healthy,

but you don't know the

future. I don't make plans as much for the future now,

it's more month by month."

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