Dutch veteran of Korean War to be laid to rest in Korea
This photo shows Johannes Horstman, a late Dutch veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War. Courtesy of Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs
A late Dutch veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War will be laid to rest in the southeastern city of Busan this week, Korea's veterans ministry said Monday.
The remains of Johannes Horstman will arrive at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Tuesday ahead of a burial ceremony set to take place at the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the following day, according to the ministry.
The private first class was dispatched to Korea as part of the Netherlands' Van Heutsz Regiment in 1952 at the age of 21.
He later visited Korea in 2015 as part of a program for Korean War veterans and expressed his intent to be buried at the U.N. Memorial Cemetery two years later in a letter to the Dutch ambassador to Korea and the Korean ambassador to the Netherlands.
Horstman passed away in July last year.
The Netherlands is among the 22 countries that sent troops or other forms of support to back Korea during and right after the three-year conflict, which ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
More than 5,000 Dutch troops were deployed during the war, with 124 being killed, according to the U.N. memorial cemetery's website.
Horstman is the 30th U.N. veteran to be posthumously interred at the Busan cemetery.