Where there are usually several flags flying in front of the Damen Naval headquarters, now there was only one… and this was at half-mast. While that Dutch tricolor flew taut in the stormy wind, a group of more than twenty Damen employees gathered outside the office to commemorate the dozens of De Schelde employees who had died during the wartime occupation years. Damen Naval Works Council Chair Annemarie Ruitenberg, together with Works Council member Arjan Thiellier, laid a wreath at the monument in memory of the 83 victims. The memorial states the names of all the Schelde workers who lost their lives.

Annemarie Ruitenberg and Arjan Thiellier lay the wreath at the monument. Annemarie Ruitenberg and Arjan Thiellier lay the wreath at the monument.

After the wreath-laying ceremony, those present observed the tradition of a two-minute silence. The annual ceremony is always a solemn occasion, but this time it was not as somber as last year. At that time, because of coronavirus restrictions, only MT members, the management of the various business units and the higher members of the Works Council were permitted to attend. Annemarie and Arjan are pleased that this year, now that the occasion was once again accessible to all staff members in compliance with coronavirus regulations, more than twenty people took the trouble to attend. “You can conclude from that that the commemoration is very relevant among the employees,” concludes Annemarie.

She looks back on “a special moment”. “As a company, it is important to reflect on your own history from time to time; this includes the sad events in that history,” said the Works Council Chair.

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