Herman was born in Holland August 10th, 1931 The sixth child to his mother The fourteenth to his father after World War I His father owned a coffee and cigar store Downtown in the Hague schoolstraat number 34 Despite the depression which made the money tight His Mom and Dad worked hard To keep those 16 bellies full before the long cold night Herman would stay up reading Head under the sheets while his siblings were all sleeping And in the winter time when the canals would freeze over He'd watch the ice skaters from atop his father's shoulders On May 10th, 1940 Herman woke up to sound of his father's voice shouting Wake up, wake up, look out the window Cover your ears and keep your heads low And Herman and his brothers were scared of what they saw A thousand green soldiers with swastikas on their arms All marching towards the dutch parliament Breaking down the doors and forcing Holland to surrender Under the orders of the German government Herman, tell me of the war And how your brothers had to hide How you went on without eating Grandpa tell me of the day The Canadians arrived And the Nazis were retreating