Hendrik Mangelaar Meertens, usually known as “Bob” Meertens, played hockey for HLC. He was selected for the national team in the 1928 Olympics, but did not play at the Olympics. In fact, he would never win a single cap. He continued to play after migrating to the Dutch East Indies. In 1936, he was involved in a shipwreck, when the SS “Van der Wijck” capsized in a storm near Tanjung Pakis (off the coast of Java). There were 34 casualties, but Mangelaar Meertens was rescued. When World War II broke out, Meertens joined the Dutch East Indies army (KNIL), but was captured by the Japanese in 1942 as they invaded the Dutch colony. Two years later, Mangelaar Meertens was transported as a prisoner of war on the “Junyo Maru”, one of the Japanese “hell ships”. The ship was torpedoed by the British on 18 September 1944, killing 5,600 on board, including Meertens.
Netherlands