Location: Gerrit van der Veenlaan, Baarn
Unveiling: 1947
Designer: mw. A. Roland-Holst
The statue 'De marine-officier' reminds the citizens of Baarn of the brothers Lodewijk (Lodo) and Gerard van Hamel, who lost their lives in the second World War. Naval officer Lodewijk, as commander of a ship of the Royal Navy of The Netherlands, assisted in the evacuation of Dunkirk and escaped to England.
Under the pseudonym Willem van Dalen, he got two commissions in august 1940: to set up spy groups and to pass military information through transmitters. He was the first Dutch secret agent to be parachuted into The Netherlands and to operate in our occupied country.
Lodewijk van Hamel and his companions were discovered by the German occupying power, arrested and sentenced. On June 16, 1941 he was executed by firing squad. His elder brother Gerard, who was involved in the resistance movement did not survived the war either. In July 1944, he died in Natzweiler concentration camp.