Aleda´s Dutch Heritage

Pan Cratius, naturalized US Citizen in 1944 became John Warmerdam.
In many ways he was more like a father, my older brother Wendell used to call him ¨Daddy¨. Our dad in the US Army, serving in Dexter New Mexico at a POW camp for German aviators. He had the time to tell us sailor stories, and his life was colorful, and his memory was about as keen as my mother.
In this photo I am at the birth site of the mother of Pan Cratius, eating a raw red herring, as the people of her village did to survive.
Going to the museum to see the unusual habits and customs of the people on the North Sea was very enlightening. My 2nd cousin gave me the official tour, and she explained where the families lived, their grand parents. Most likely my grandfather Pan Cratius walked these same shores, and came here in the summer to swim.