This year, on 18 November, Bill Pendell turns 97. He was one of the many troops who liberated towns and cities in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands at the end of World War II.
One of these cities was Eindhoven. Since 2014 Bill has been visiting the city of Eindhoven every year on Liberation Day, 18 September. In honour of this hero, the Stichting 18 September (18 September Foundation) wants to make his birthday something to remember.
They have asked people to send Bill a birthday postcard. You can send your postcard to:
Bill Pendell
P.O. Box 1390
5602 BJ Eindhoven
The Netherlands
Please be sure to do so before 13 November. The 18 September Foundation will ensure your card will be delivered to Bill on his birthday.
Who was Bill Pendall?
Bill was born in Blaine, Wales in 1921. On 6 June 1944, during D-Day, the 22-year-old Welshman landed as a courier with the Royal Signals of the 11th Armored Division at Gold Beach. Gold Beach was the code name for one of the five areas of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings.
Bill was assigned to scout areas in an armoured truck for enemy troop movements and positions. “I was always on my own,” Bill said 70 years later. “I only had a stengun as a weapon. But I could hardly ever use that. Otherwise, I would betray my position”, he is quoted as saying on freedomrun.nl. “From Nijmegen, we were transported to Eindhoven by truck. Here I had my first bath since the landing in Normandy.”
On 8 March 1945, Bill’s division marched into Germany a few days after the first Allied troops managed to cross the Rhine river. Bill’s division also liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on 15 April. According to freedomrun.nl, the decorated World War II veteran chooses not to discuss what he saw there.
Bill received the Military Medal in June 1945 for his bravery in battle, and he served in Germany until 1946. In 2016, he was also awarded the Legion d’honneur from the French president. This is the highest distinction a foreigner can receive in France.
