Cringila man Henk Haasjes got his Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday night – 28 years after it was awarded to him.
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In 1988, the peace prize was awarded to the United Nations Peacekeepers who served from 1948 to 1985.
Mr Haasjes, who was born in the Netherlands, served as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the early 1980s.
“The countries would contribute troops and the Dutch deployed a whole battalion for the United Nations and we had to get stationed in southern Lebanon on the border with Israel to stop immigration of the PLO into Lebanon.
“Later, when Israel invaded Lebanon the mission changed to a humanitarian mission.”
Our country doesn’t look after its veterans properly.
- Henk Haasjes
Mr Haasjes was 18 when he joined the Dutch army as part of his two years compulsory service, though he volunteered for the mission in southern Lebanon.
“I got special training and we trained for almost eight months in the Netherlands and then we were shipped out to Lebanon,” he said.
“We even trained with the Green Berets for a couple of weeks. We were totally gung-ho when we went to Lebanon. When we got there all the things we’d trained for - ambush attack and camouflage - was all different.
“We had vehicles that were white and hats that were blue so we were seen everywhere in the landscape.”
He served in Lebanon for five months, from July to November 1983. He said it was “dangerous” work – during his time there a suicide bomber drove a truck full of explosives into a US Marines barracks in Beirut, killing 241 soldiers.
“After that the Americans withdrew from Lebanon, and they were there to protect UNIFIL,” he said.
“So after that the whole game changed and the Dutch reduced their troops to a company from a battalion. A battalion is 800 and a company is 200.
“I stayed with the company for another four weeks.”
Mr Haasjes finally received his award in Sydney on Thursday night.
He said the 28-year delay was because of the Netherlands’ attitude to soldiers.
“Our country doesn’t look after its veterans properly,” he said.
“We won this but nothing was done for the troops - not a piece of paper or anything. A couple of years ago a lobby group started in the Netherlands to get recognition and it resulted in a medal, that you wear on your military uniform or your civilian clothes.”
