A message from Joppe's parents

Site Admin Joined: Apr 25, 2006 Posts: 3949

January this year was the anniversary of Joppe's passing and this month we are repeating the charity drive for the Make a Wish Foundation. I wrote to Joppe's father to inform him of our continued support for this charity and he wrote me back a very moving letter which has asked me to pass on to our visitors.

Quote::

When we saw the pages “Joppe gone but not forgotten” on the Mission4Today forum we were really touched. After Joppe died I learned from the hundreds of warm reactions on the forum that he had made many many friends out there. The fact that so many people expressed their sad feelings about the loss of Joppe was a great consolation to my wife Gerda and me. Also it was very special to see that the very Mustang that Joppe flew in was adapted so that it could be flown on the computer. To bad that Joppe missed that !

During his life Joppe always wanted to make a difference. At school he always tried to help his fellow students in any way he could, more than once in close cooperation with the school counselor, who after some time became a friend of his. And he was appreciated for this both by his friends and fellow students and by his teachers and school administration.
In the future he would have loved to join the army or the airforce. He admired those men and women who are sent out to foreign countries in peace-keeping missions. He thought there he could make a difference. After he got cancer his perspective changed. Now he aimed at, after his recovery, becoming a teacher and a counselor. That way he could also combine his interest in history and his desire to continue to help people in need.
But he was not given the time. His condition deteriorated and finally he died.
While alive he didn’t want to talk much about his approaching end. But he did a lot of thinking. Shortly before he died he showed me a notebook where he had written down his last will, and also lots of instructions about how he would like his funeral to be.
We carried out his last will. From his savings he wanted donations to be made to ‘Stichting Doe Een Wens’ (Dutch Make a Wish foundation) and to Mission4Today. He wanted to contribute to make it possible to continue the good work.

We are very pleased to hear that M4T keeps its promise to repeat the charity month for the Make a Wish Foundation. This way you honour Joppe as he thus succeeds to make a difference, even after his death.
Thank you very much for this.

We have a large amount of pictures and even some moving pictures made during Joppe’s last months. There are pictures of the ride in 2nd world war allied military vehicles and of his flight in the Mustang, both organized by the Doe Een Wens Stichting. Also there are pictures of the surprise party that his friends organized for Joppe on December 24 2009, 2 days before his 18th birthday. And there are movies and pictures of Joppe’s funeral, how his coffin was transported on the back of a 2nd world war Dodge WC62 1.5 tons 6x6 truck while we followed in a Dodge-WC57 command car. Recordings of the service in the church. When Joppe was carried out of the church the orchestra played The March from “1941” (John Williams). His goodbye was that of a hero, in many ways resembling a ceremony of military honour. On the cemetery his coffin was let down in the grave by some of his friends, while a friend played The Last Post on trumpet. Finally his friends closed the grave and covered it with flowers. We took care of Joppe until the very last moment. And he did deserve it !

His grave monument is made in the shape of a common wealth military grave, as seen on many 1st and 2nd world war cemeteries (we saw them in Ieper, Belgium, but also in Overloon 20km’s from where we live). Joppe himself designed it and instead of an army unit weapon Joppe made his own weapon: three roses, a white rose for confidence, a yellow rose for friendship and a red rose for love. On the monument is his name, date of birth and date of death, and the text “gesneuveld in de strijd tegen kanker” (fallen in the fight against cancer).
Below this he has a knight on a horse with the subscription:
“ Met getrokken zwaard reed hij zijn lot tegemoet, nimmer gaf hij zich over” (with drawn sword he rode towards his destiny, never did he surrender).
On the grave his friends laid white rocks on which they had written statements about Joppe.

I read that members of the forum intended to create a memorial page for Joppe. This has not yet been realized, at least I could not find the page. If this plan is indeed to be carried out it may be helpful to have those pictures and movies. All together it will be about 3 DVD’s, far too much to be enclosed in an e-mail. If you think it might be of interest than just mail me a post address and I will be happy to send it to you.

We would like it if you would share this letter with Joppe’s friends and members of M4T. We know that Joppe would have wanted that too.
Thank you very much for your message
With kind regards
.......

If anyone would like a copy of the DVDs please send me a PM and I will arrange copying and sending on, any charges will be donated to Make a Wish.

Pleae donate today, donations close end of February 28th 2011

Joppes graveside photo is available in HiRes here

Check your PM's please. (like you don't anyway LOL)