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THE STORY OF BOY ECURY |
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| One of the prettiest sets in my Aruba stamp collection is a 2002 set of three stamps, commemorating Aruba’ s role in World War Two. . One stamp shows the U-Boat, U-I56 blasting away at the Lago refinery. The second shows a tanker in flames and an errant torpedo on the beach. The third shows the statue of Boy Ecury on L.G. Smith Boulevard in Oranjestad. |
| Who was the Boy Ecury? A search on “Google’ disclosed that a movie was recently made in Holland of his heroic death. He was a freedom fighter, or resistance fighter, in Holland while that country was under German occupation. His full name was Segundo Jorge Adelberto Ecury, but he was called Boy. He was born in Oranjestad, 23 April, 1922, and died before a German firing squad in a field called “Waalsdorpervlakte” near Scheveningen with several other young men, on 6 November 1944. Boy’s father was a businessman named Dundun Ecury, who decided in 1937 to send his fifteen year old son to a boarding school in Holland. (I have not yet been able to find the name of Boy’s mother, but suspect she may have been from Curacao, since Boy’s sister lived there in later years.) Boy moved about the country, living in Tilburg for a while but also living in Oisterwijk, Deift, and Rotterdam. |
| After the German
occupation of Holland Boy, and probably with his friend from Curacao,
Luis de Lannoy, and others, did what they
could to hinder the progress of the German
Wehrmacht by firebombing supply trucks and otherwise sabotaged
highways. Due to betrayal, Boy was captured on 5 November 1944 while carrying weapons in a sack. However, when asked to give names of other members of the Underground, Boy refused. The next day he and several others were lined up and shot. |
| The War in Holland ended just six months later. Boy’s father went to Holland to reclaim his son’s remains, and brought them back to Aruba for burial with military honors. Later, the Dutch Government awarded Boy its “Verzetsherdenkingskruis” or “Resistance Heroes Commemorative Cross.” A statue was erected on a prominent Oranjestad street so people would be able to remember him. |
| Boy’s sister, Nydia Ecury, became an actress and a popular writer in Papiamentu. She lived in Curacao after the War. Her son was the one who made the recent TV movie about Boy. |
 Bill
Moyer, Dallas, 2006
Photograph of: Segundo Jorge Adelberto Ecury, Know as: Boy Ecury. |
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Today, Feb 3, 2007 I received the email below from Giselle Ecury, Boy Ecury's nephew who now lives in Holland. |
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Dear Mister Jensen, Coincidentally I have found the website about the Lago Colony on Aruba and I have read especially the page about Boy Ecury (by Bill Moyer) with great interest. He was my uncle, but in fact I’ve never met him. I was born after the War – in 1953 – as the third child of his eldest brother, Doe Ecury. I’d like to inform you that his sister Mrs. Nydia Ecury, is still living and working on Curaçao. She’s aged 81 now and is still going strong as a writer and performer of poems. I’d like to inform you as well, that it was not her son who made the TV-film about my uncle Boy. The son of one of her Aruban sisters wrote the book about Boy. His name is Ted Schouten. Frans Weisz directed the film, based upon this book. He is in our country, the Netherlands, a famous cineaste. The film got several prizes. Since 2005 I’ve made my own dreams come true: I’m an author as well. I wrote a book with poems (2005) and in 2006 my first novel was published, both in Dutch. I’m visiting Aruba and Curaçao almost each year and I’m living in Holland since 1960. My parents died in 1984 and 2004. I’m preparing a visit to the islands in March. I loved to see the old photos about Aruba, with the Palm Beach of my childhood. Wonderful! Not bad to have started life on a bounty-island….
Wishing you all the best. Kindest regards,
Giselle Ecury |
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Today, May 19, 2007 I received from Bryan McCall a photo of the statue of Boy Ecury which stands outside the Juliana School in Oranjestad. |
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