Finals -- xxxv

Diary entries stretch out longer late in his telling of the story. Entries begin to be more comprehensive and more preachy as he summarizes, or tries to, the war and his experience within it. 

Even though he faces endless ruins every day, Chaplain Van takes full advantage of the car he has been given to get around. He takes trips--one day, two day, three day--all around vanquished Germany and even into adjacent countries. He visits Hitler's final hideout several times, taking groups of soldiers to see the famous hideaway. He was born in Rotterdam, probably had limited memories of "the old country," but is shaken by the destruction of that city when he goes home to visit relatives, most of whom, he sadly admits, don't go to church. He gets around quite nicely, or at least the diaries seem almost a travelogue. He's an officer, he's got a car, and he's got a reputation for hard, hard work, setting up and preaching in spaces where he can get a half-dozen people in to listen to the Word of God. He's highly respected, a fire-and-brimstone preacher who never fudged on the Word or its demands. Once the fighting stops, he manages quite nicely to get along through the disaster that is western Europe.

The book of diaries is itself more clearly shaped as he moves it toward completion. Chaplain Van worked on this project during the 1980s, when the world he looked out upon daily had changed immensely from Paris in 1944. That's observable in the inclusion of this line of reasoning: 

In the early months of 1944, Germany lost the battle of the skies. Our Air Force dropped 2,700,000 tons of bombs on Germany. At the peak of its strength, the United State's air force had 28,000 combat planes and 1,300,000 men in its command. 

All the destruction of many cities and towns, the death of millions of soldiers and civilians, the concentration camps, the suffering of the people and the demoralizing effects of the war  -- defies the imagination. 

Every Christian must believe that all of it is an expression of the judgment of God upon an apostate people. 

And then he pulls out a brand new argument, the abortion profile, so much a weapon in similar arguments during the late 20th century, rarely spoken of during the war:

We as Americans cannot boast that we are more civil than others. Since the Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand some 15 years ago [it seems he's finishing up the manuscript in the late 1980s], it is estimated that about 15 million unborn infants were killed in the wombs of their mothers. An unprecedented crime wave is sweeping through the nation. Some are saying that the United States is a decadent nation. Even though an atomic war does not destroy the nation, the judgement of God could be sent in another form just as devastating. America too must repent of its evil ways. Many churches and ministers must at least assume part of the blame for the moral and spiritual condition of our nation. 

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

Somewhere in the time when he was finishing preparing the manuscript, I met Chaplain Van--"Rev. Van Schouwen"--in the post office in town. He'd been retired for years by that time, about the time he was working on his memoirs. Strangely enough, he recognized me. "So Jim, you're a senior now?"

I'd graduated almost two decades previous and been teaching at Dordt College for about five years. 

"Magoo," I thought, smiling, I'm sure. 

~   *   ~   *   ~   *   ~

Sioux Center News March 8, 1994

Born: 4-16-1903

Died: 3-2-1994

The Rev. Cornelius Van Schouwen, 90, of Sioux Center died Wednesday, March 2, at the Sioux Center Community Hospital.

Services were Friday, March 4, at 1:30pm at Bethel Christian Reformed Church, Sioux Center, with the Rev. Robert Holwerda and the Rev. Andrew Van Schouwen officiating. Burial was at Memory Gardens Cemetery, Sioux Center.

Van Schouwen was born April 16, 1903, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, the son of Joseph and Cornelia (Van Hoeven) Van Schouwen. His family immigrated to South Holland, Illinois, in 1907. He graduated from Calvin College in June 1928. He married Henrietta Vander Meyden in South Holland, Illinois on September 20, 1930. He graduated from Calvin Seminary in June 1931 and was ordained a the Archer Avenue Christian Reformed Church September 20, 1931. His second church was the DeMotte Christian Reformed Church, 1937 to 1942.

He was a chaplain in the U.S. Army from January 1942 to May 1946. After the war he became a Bible instructor at Western Christian High School until 1949. His wife died February 10, 1949. He was a Bible instructor at Lansing Christian High School from 1949 to 1953. He married Sue Walstra in Hammond, Indiana on June 8, 1951. He taught Reformed doctrine and psychology at Dordt College from 1954 to 1968. He received a master's degree in education from the University of Indiana at Bloomington in 1953 and a master's of theology from Winona Lake School of Theology at Warsaw, Indiana, in 1964.

He was a member and associate pastor of Bethel Christian Reformed Church and preached, led societies and taught catechism at various area churches. He enjoyed gardening, fishing and walking.

Survivors include his wife, Sue; two sons, Neil and his wife Pat and Joe and his wife Shar, all of Sioux Center; one daughter, Susann De Stigter and her husband Paul of Spokane Washington; one brother, Harry Van Schouwen of Lansing, Illinois; two sisters, Dena Swets of Lansing and Cornelia Boot of Oskaloosa; and 11 grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Henrietta; three brothers, Jacob, Joseph and John; and three sisters, Jennie, Sophie and Johanna.