COUNTDOWN TO FREEDOM

"Countdown to Freedom" is the story of a young Dutch boy from the big port city of Rotterdam, Holland who experienced first-hand the invasion of his country by the Nazis in 1940, the wanton bombing of the city by the German Luftwaffe, numerous bombings by the Allied Air forces, persecution of the Jewish population, reprisal killings, the gradual loss of all freedoms, the taking of thousands of slave laborers, the terrible 'hunger winter' of 1944/1945 when thousands of people starved to death and the dropping of food by B-17's and Lancasters to the starving population toward the end of the war. Throughout the war the desire to be free became an obsession. But not all was gloom and doom. There were funny moments and the population never lost its sense of humor. The family enjoyed some good times and laughed but those moments were always experienced under the oppressive Nazi cloak. Symbols of freedom were the contrails of thousands of bombers that would fly over Rotterdam on their way to targets in Germany and the lone Spitfire that one time swooped down low, rocked its wings several times, waved at us and then sped away. But it is not just Freedom for its own sake rather what in the end the cost of that freedom was. That is the story and the message the author would like to get across.

Willem Ridder was born in Rotterdam, Holland in 1930. He lived through the Nazi occupation of his country from 1940 through 1945 and witnessed first-hand many of the events that shook his city, country and the world. In 1950 he was drafted into the Dutch Army which was then already part of NATO. In February 1953 he was recalled into service to assist in the evacuation of people and livestock as a result of the worst flood experienced in the Netherlands up to that time. In November 1953 Willem migrated to the USA and started his career with the Bank of America in Los Angeles. In 1954 Willem was drafted in the US Army and served in the 40th Tank Battalion of the US 2d Infantry (Indianhead) Division.In 1956 he was the recipient of the Medal from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for the essay: My Vote - Freedom's Privilege. Following his honorable discharge he returned to Bank of America at the end of 1956 and following several assignments as Branch Operations Officer was assigned to Europe in 1964 and for ten years was Vice President in charge of Operations of the bank's branches in Western Europe. He returned to California, San Francisco in 1974 and for the next ten years occupied several functions in the World Banking Division. In 1984 he left BofA and founded First Collateral Services, Inc., currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of Citigroup. He retired at the age of 72 in 2002 and completed writing "Countdown to Freedom". He has been married to Diny for 51 years. They have two grown children, Lynette and Steve and three grandsons: Henry, Willem and Miles. Willem and Diny live in the San Francisco Bay Area, in beautiful Clayton, CA .