For us as children, Uncle Piet was the photo of an unknown man in our photo album. Later, you hear more about him. He fell in Indonesia during what the Netherlands called Police Actions and the rest of the world referred to as the Indonesian War of Independence. He had volunteered for military service in 1945 and was supposed to return to the Netherlands with the rest of his regiment in 1948. As punishment – he had used his military vehicle for non-military purposes – he had to stay in Indonesia while his comrades went home.
Quite miserable
In a letter from December 1948, Piet writes to his brother Jo and his new sister-in-law Fokje: This is already the 4th birthday I celebrate away from home, and I can only hope to celebrate the next one at home, but I’m not counting on it anymore; nothing seems strange to me now. You can well imagine I’m feeling quite miserable, and soon I’ll be a poor propagandist for the Dutch Army.
There’s nothing new to report .. about the gentlemen. They’re also getting quite frustrated, because I’m just roaming around here and I don’t ask the gentlemen anything, I received a warning from the CC that if I went somewhere else again, I would be punished under martial law, but that means at most 14 days of strict discipline, which is nothing to worry about.
Second Police Action
He became involved in the Dutch 2nd Police Action in December 1948. Surrounded by overwhelming enemy forces, he and fellow soldier Herman Jansen volunteered to go for help. Neither of them survived.
In 1950, Piet posthumously received the Bronze Lion: Military personnel who have distinguished themselves in combat against the enemy through exceptional bravery and decisive actions are eligible for the Bronze Lion. Only the Queen can award this honor to military members serving the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Annoucement in the Official Government Gazette
By Royal Decree of August 24, 1950, the Bronze Lion was posthumously awarded to soldier-volunteer P. Schoonveld from Zuidwolde for distinguishing himself through particularly courageous and strategic acts in combat against the enemy on December 31, 1948, when the military post Patjet (East Java) was besieged by overwhelming guerrilla forces. In particular, after countless attacks on this post had been repelled since early morning and the post commander decided in the afternoon, as no help was forthcoming and the situation became untenable due to dwindling ammunition, to attempt to send two soldiers by jeep to break through and retrieve urgently needed reinforcements from Modjossari, he immediately volunteered with another soldier for this mission, fully aware of the perilousness of the situation and the significant risks associated with this assignment.
Subsequently, by speeding through the enemy lines with another soldier as quickly as possible in the jeep, it became clear around midnight, when the commander of the completely voluntary arriving relief troops reached the post, that an abandoned jeep had been found on the Modjossari-Patjet road, while the following day, his remains, along with those of his comrade, were discovered mutilated by machete strikes near Kampong Kambansori-Lor.