Dad- Rijkspolitie te Water

This is my father as a police officer in the early 1950's. He looks like a goof-off here-- and the way he's wearing his cap you can just tell that he's trouble! Dad joined the force shortly after he and mom married in 1946-- opportunities in policing abounded then as the Netherlands was busy rebuilding its police force after WWII. During the war the country had been occupied by the Germans, and the police force and any justice systems had been obliterated by Nazi rule. And-- since dad had a child on the way-- a steady income was really required in order for him to be able to take care of his family. My grandfather, Opa Barendrecht, agreed that taking a job with the police would be a good move-- since this meant a steady job with a steady income. He was first stationed in Vlaardingen, and then Terneuzen, where he was in the force when the big Watersnoot of 1953 happened. I remember Dad being gone for weeks at a time as he worked rescue and recovery operations. I also remember one day when news came that there had been another breach of the dikes, and so my mother hurried to carry as much furniture as she could to the second floor of our row house. I remember carrying up lots of things that were small enough for a child to carry upstairs, and later in the day, I also remember our neighbors, Ploontje en Jan Fokke, coming over and helping to carry up the dining room table upstairs. Although not all the furniture was able to be taken upstairs, (the pieces were just too heavy and there was no one around to help Mom), luckily the water didn't reach our street. The problem with this massive flooding was that it didn't end when the big storm was over-- because the dikes had been breached the flooding continued for months on end. The province of Zeeland was especially vulnerable because of its geography. The dining room table survived many moves and was special because my dad made it from lumber scraps after the war, and it has made it all the way to America and is now in my house.