An unexpected encounter during a return trip

The return trips to Indonesia and the reunion with the country in the seventies was a feast of recognition for many Dutch veterans who had been garrisoned in the Dutch Indies 30 years before. But for the men of 3-7 RI, who quietly enjoyed their holiday in the lounge of their hotel in Semarang, it was a confrontation with a call for recognition.

The group of veterans from the 7th Regiment visited Indonesia in 1976. A fluent Dutch speaking Chinese doctor made his appearance with a light colored, fashionably dressed young man at his side. The doctor explained that the man, Rollis, was looking for his Dutch father, who according to his mother had been a driver with 3-7 RI. Dutch-Indies veteran Henk Gabel and his Indo-European wife Noes, who spoke fluent Malay, agreed to visit the mother of Rollis in a nearby village. There they heard how difficult it had been to a pale child, a son of a Belanda, to be accepted. She was still mourning for the sudden departure of her lover. In the evening he had said "until tomorrow". She had never heard from him anymore.

The mother of Rollis gave two pictures to Gabel, hoping that he could go look in the Netherlands. Gabel was in a difficult position because he knew the person who was the supposed father. The relationship with the Indonesian girl was known, but that the man had fathered a child Gabel did not know. He did not want to bring the family of the man in the Netherlands into trouble. Still, once back in the Netherlands he got in touch with X. But X was not very eager to make an appointment with Gabel. After much insistence, they arranged a secret meeting at the station of Nijmegen. X atmitted the existence of the child but feared his job and family happiness by giving openness. He did not want to keep the photographs of his son and gave them back to Gabel. Both he and his wife are now deceased. It is very likely that his children, like many other children of Dutch-Indies veterans, are not at all aware of the existence of a half-brother in Semarang, who has become a successful batik designer.