The best city hikes and walks in Nieuwe Heide

The monument consists of four concrete columns, topped with a statue of a pelican on its nest, with its young. The pelican is the Christian symbol of total self-sacrifice. According to legend, the bird feeds its young with its own blood. Around the columns is a relief of soldiers mourning a soldier on the ground. The columns are 6.5 meters high. Joe Mann This monument is a tribute to American paratrooper Joe Eugene Mann and all who fought to liberate Best. Joe Mann was an American soldier in World War II. He served with the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army during Operation Market-Garden and was killed in the battle in Best for the bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal on September 19, 1944, sacrificing himself for his fellow soldiers. He absorbed the explosion of a grenade with his back, thereby saving the lives of his comrades. For this act, he was posthumously awarded the highest American military decoration: the Medal of Honor. He is buried at Greenwood Memorial Terrace in Spokane, Washington State. The story of Joe E. Mann only became known in the region later, through a publication by Cees Wittebrood in the Bata Courier on October 22, 1954. This led to the construction of the Joe Mann Theater and the Joe Mann War Memorial. Reliefs on the Monument The reliefs on the monument depict Joe Mann's heroic act. Sergeant Bertras is depicted on the far left of the front, throwing a hand grenade from the shelter where Joe Mann lay with several wounded men. On the far right is Private Laino, who was severely wounded in the face when a grenade exploded on the barrel of his machine gun. The main motif on the front of the monument is Lieutenant Edward Wierszbowski, bending over the dying Joe Mann. The images on the front extend into the relief to the right of the monument, which depicts the wounded Joe Mann in his shelter. This part of the monument bears the United States coat of arms (eagle with coat of arms). The small relief on the back depicts Saint Odulphus, which appears in the coat of arms of the municipality of Best. The left section depicts Private L. Koller, who was killed by a bullet while he slept. The eagle, which appears in the coat of arms of the 101st Airborne Division, is also depicted there. The foot of the monument bears the inscription, which also appears on the Medal of Honor: "His extraordinary courtesy and magnificent conduct were an everlasting inspiration to his comrades, for whom he gave his life." The statue was designed by Nijmegen artist Ad Berntsen and unveiled by Joe Mann's parents on September 17, 1956, in the presence of Mayor Notermans, the military attaché of the American embassy in The Hague, and 13 Americans from the 101st Airborne Division, among many others.

Quickly continue to Oirschot.

Perfect place to park if you want to start your walk right away!

The Beatrix camp was built by the German occupiers during the Second World War as Siedlung a.d. Oirschotse Dijk. After the liberation, it was given the name Prinses Beatrixkamp and consisted of a collection of residential buildings, a canteen building and the like. It was also used by the Ministry of Defence for storage purposes. In the early 1980s, the runway of Eindhoven Air Base was moved and rotated, and it came to lie in the approach route of the air base, and it was no longer used by the Ministry of Defence to house the military personnel who worked at the air base. From 1991, it became an asylum seekers' centre with the name Beatrixoord. It remained that until 2011. In 2012, the buildings were demolished, because it was no longer habitable because it had come to lie in the approach route of Eindhoven Airport (and Eindhoven Air Base) since the runway was rotated. A nature reserve, the Prinses Beatrixbos, was built on the site of the barracks. The fake church, built by the Germans to make the Siedlung look like a normal village, was preserved and became a bat shelter. Other buildings, once disguised as farms by the Germans, were demolished.

Monument of the Second World War. It is also well explained what happened here. it concerns the airborne landing.

The artwork was created in 2022 by Judith de Leeuw from Amsterdam and tells a special story. The mural shows a man taking a graceful dive. Judith was inspired by the story of a former drug criminal,

Gallery Dutch/Caps Mill with star

Very nice church. And it is open to visitors!