Cornelis Pieter van den Hoek

Cornelis Pieter van den Hoek
Cornelis Pieter van den Hoek
	Van den Hoek at the Binnenhof in The Hague, 29 May 2009
Born	7 June 1921; Leerdam, South Holland, Netherlands
Died	12 February 2015 (aged 93); Werkendam, North Brabant, Netherlands
Allegiance	Netherlands
Service/branch	Dutch resistance
Years of service	1944–1945
Awards	Military William Order, Knight 4th class; Order of Orange-Nassau, Knight 5th class; Resistance Memorial Cross;

Cornelis Pieter "Piet" van den Hoek (7 June 1921 – 12 February 2015) was a

Military William Order

.

Resistance fighter

In 1942 Van den Hoek was arrested by the Germans and brought to a labor camp in

royal order

:

distinguished himself in battle by committing excellent acts of bravery, planning and loyalty during the end of 1944 and the beginning of 1945, on behalf of the Bureau of Information of the Dutch Government, maintaining a secret connection between occupied and liberated Netherlands across an 18 kilometer long waterway, across the
Biesbosch and the Merwede
, 37 times rowing across many extremely watchfull enemy posts and patroll boats.
Also he distinguished himself, when on one of these trips his boat was sifted through with enemy bullets and he, after having to leave his boat, was arrested by the enemy, escaped within a month, and afterwards again helped maintain the connection by boat between liberated and occupied territory.
Finally [he distinguished himself] by, in union with other wellminded Dutch citizens, taking part in the Biesbosch in overpowering and capturing small groups of heavily armed German soldiers, who were afterwards locked up and guarded in motor ships in a secluded part of the Biesbosch.^[2]

Knighthood

On 30 October 1948, by

honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, bestowed for "performing excellent acts of Bravery, Leadership and Loyalty in battle".^[3] The award is comparable to the British Victoria Cross

and seldom awarded.