Hoof, Jan Jozef Lambert van.

Hoof, Jan Jozef Lambert van, born 07-08-1922 in Nijmegen , the son of  Jan Lambert van Hoof and Regina Engeline Herfkens, was a member of the Dutch resistance in World War II, where he cooperated with Allied Forces as a guide during Operation Market Garden, and was executed in action. Before and during the war, Van Hoof was a Rover Scout,  and the scouting medal the Nationale Padvindersraad was named in his honor. In 1933, scouting was banned in Nazi Germany. After the invasion of the Netherlands, the German occupier tried to create a single national Dutch youth movement, in which all Dutch youth movements, including the Boy Scouts and the Nazi National Youth Storm, would unite. This was refused, and therefore the Boy Scouts, like in the other occupied countries, were banned. However, many members of the Boy Scouts continued in secret. This is how they automatically ended up in illegality. This also happened to Jan van Hoof.Contemporary scouting groups in Nijmegen, Gouda and Nieuwegein are named in tribute to Jan van Hoof.

Jan van Hoof is credited with disabling German explosives placed to destroy the vital bridge over the river Waal, to delay British liberation. The Katholieke Verkenners (Catholic Scouts) during World War II was forbidden in most occupied countries. All the Scouting organization were to be integrated into the Nationale Jeugdstorm (NJS) , the Dutch version of the Hitler Youth . Jan van Hoof in particular joined the resistance. Shortly after the start of the occupation of the Netherlands by the Nazis, he became member of a Rover crew and in the spring of 1943 he was secretly installed as full Rover Scout. During the occupation he made observations and drawings of his environment, especially the Waal Bridges. With the coming of the Allies during Operation Market Garden on September 17^th 1944 he used his expertise by guiding the Allies through the city of Nijmegen.

On 10-09-1944, the Allies decided to quickly advance from the Belgian-Dutch border to Arnhem via a narrow corridor in order to move along the Siegfried Line and invade Germany north of the major rivers via the important Ruhr area. The corridor ran via the towns of Lommel Belgium, Valkenswaard, Eindhoven, Sint Oedenrode, Veghel, Uden, Grave and Nijmegen to Arnhem. A number of bridges within the corridor had to be captured and defended. The Allies hoped to hasten the end of the war through Operation Market Garden. The performance started on Sunday, September 17. The last of these bridges, the bridge near Arnhem, ultimately proved to be a bridge too far.

  It was said that he disarmed the explosives that were attached to the Waal Bridge during the fighting, though no-one saw him do it.

After this heroic deed he went home and told his sister ‘the bridge is saved’; then he returned to the American unit and resumed guiding them through the city. Enquiries after the war could not positively identify Van Hoof as the individual who cut the wires to the bridge, however circumstantial evidence backs up the claim and when the Germans eventually tried to blow the bridge, just before its capture, their attempts failed. On the 19^th of September, van Hoof was riding on the top of a Guards Armored Division  British Humber Scout Car,

guiding the vehicle from the allied column located at the central post office to the American soldiers and Guards Armored Division under command of Major-General Sir Allan Henry Shafto 6th Baronet Adair,

  tanks attacking the railway bridge. On the Nieuwe Markt (near the railway bridge) the Humber scout car containing Lance-Sergeant William Thomas Berry (30 years old) and Guardsman A. Shaw (23 years old) shot on fire. Jan van Hoof was thrown from the car. the Germans opened fire with a 2 cm gun on the vehicle, which caught fire. The British soldiers were already dead when the German troops arrived, but van Hoof was still alive. They took his gun, identity papers and his armband which identified him officially an allied soldier. He was beaten and then shot through the head. Jan van Hoof, age 22, is buried on the cemetery at the Daalseweg, in the field of honor.

After the German surrender the Guards were mostly involved in mopping up operations and occupation duties. A small detachment was used to test the new Centurion universal tank, six of which had arrived in Germany, too late to be used in the conflict. Eventually the division was selected for conversion back to infantry, and held a “farewell to armour” parade on 09-06-1945; Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery    took the final salute.

Even before this research, Jan van Hoof had been posthumously awarded: by the United States of America with the Medal of Freedom with Bronze Palm (November 1945), by the Netherlands with the Dutch Knight’s Cross 4th Class of the Military Order of William (9 November 1946) and by Great Britain with the King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct with Silver Laurel (November 1947).

Initially, Van Hoof, Berry and Shaw were buried on the edge of the Kronenburger Park. It was only a few days later that they were exhumed and identified. On 04-08-1945, Jan van Hoof was transferred from the Rustoord Cemetery to the Daalseweg Cemetery where a monument can still be found. In 1971 he was reburied in the plot of the Vredehof General Cemetery in Nijmegen on the Weg door Jonkerbos. Until September 2009, his gravestone read as date of death as 22-09-1944. Lance Sergeant W.T. Berry and Guardsman A. Shaw are buried approximately 500 meters away as the crow flies, at the Military Cemetery Jonkerbos War Cemetery on Burgemeester Daleslaan.