Dr. Roelof Frank was called up for military service in February 1940 and stationed near Hoek van Holland. He crossed over to England with the Dutch Royal Family and the remnants of the Dutch army in May 1940. He worked as Medical Officer at Clapham Hospital, London, at Porthcawl and in Yorkshire. Sent to Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1941, he served in the British army there. He made three convoy runs on hospital ships between Colombo and Melbourne, Australia. Returning to Colombo, his ship the Australian H.M.A.S."Armidale" was diverted to Timor to evacuate guerrilla casualties. The "Armidale" was torpedoed on 1 December 1942 was great loss of life. My father did not survive.
My mother, Betty Frank-Mayer, and I, Joachim Roelof Frank , (Achi), ]remained in our home in Oss,which was ostensibly converted into Rusthuis Hannah in 1942. This was a ploy, inspired by the Resistance, to enable her to send her parents, Siegmund and Johanna Mayer, and parents-in-law,Joachim & Dora Frank-Heimans, into hiding in Schayik (N.B.) and Brunsum respectively. Betty herself and I, Joachim Roelof Frank, went into hiding in Schayik as well in March 1943, living with Richard & Nella Arts-Smits (who are remembered at the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem) till October 1944, under the name of Pathuis. We returned to liberated Oss in October 1944 and emigrated to Johannesburg, South Africa in June 1951.
Story bij Joachim Roelof Frank (Achi), son of Roelof Frank and Betty Mayer and posted on this site by the editors of Joods Monument, 13 March 2018.