A Dutch veteran of the Korean War has been laid to rest at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan, where service members of UN forces who fought in the war are honored.
According to the cemetery, the late Jacob Cornelis Constandse of the Netherlands was buried there on May 14 in accordance with his final wishes. He was known to those around him by the nickname Jaap.
Constandse was born on Dec. 7, 1927, in Dubbeldam, the Netherlands, and died on April 13 in Roosendaal at the age of 97.
The ceremony was attended by Peter van der Vliet, Dutch ambassador to Seoul, military and diplomatic officials from both countries, and Constandse’s family.
The veteran, who later retired as an army colonel, volunteered for the Korean War in 1952 as a lieutenant assigned to the Regiment van Heutsz of the Dutch Army. He served in Korea from Feb. 28, 1952, to March 9, 1953.
In March 1952, he took part in operations along the central front line near Cheorwon, Kimhwa and Pyonggang, where his unit built trenches and bunkers and carried out reconnaissance missions.
He later served for about three months at a prisoner-of-war camp in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province.
In December 1952, he fought in the Battle of T-Bone Ridge, where the Dutch Battalion engaged Chinese forces in fierce fighting over a strategic outpost in Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi Province. His unit helped defend the position alongside US forces.
The battle also left him with lasting grief. Constandse often remembered Johannes Marinus ter Ellen, a Dutch private who fought alongside him and was killed on Christmas Eve. Ter Ellen was later buried at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan.
In recognition of his distinguished service, Constandse received honors from South Korea, the Netherlands and the United States, including the Dutch Cross for Justice and Freedom and the Bronze Star Medal from the US.
With Constandse’s burial, the UN Memorial Cemetery is now the resting place of 2,337 UN service members from 14 countries. He became the 35th person to be buried in the cemetery’s veterans section, which was established in 2015.
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