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Volunteer Corps

The Volunteer Corps Curaçao (VKC) was founded in June 1929 following a surprise attack on Willemstad by Venezuelan rebel Rafael Simón Urbina. Led by businessman C.N. ‘Shon Cai’ Winkel, it began as a civilian defense force.

During World War II, the VKC helped defend Curaçao’s vital oil infrastructure, serving alongside the military, navy, air force, and colonial Schutterij. VKC members guarded strategic sites against enemy threats, especially from German submarines.

Similar volunteer corps were established on the other Dutch Caribbean islands: VKA on Aruba, VKB on Bonaire, and VKS on Sint Maarten, forming a wider regional network of local defense forces.

 

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Michael Nuboer from Venice, Florida USA. wrote on May 10, 2024 at 9:31 pm
Michel Wilhelm Nuboer (1916-1980) left Paramaribo in 1941/42 as an Assistant in the engine’s department of a freight ship bound to Curaçao during the Second World War. The ship may have likely been carrying aluminum aggregates for making fighter planes in the U.S. as cargo. Upon arrival, he probably was a gunner first, but then became a Medical Assistant stationed on Bonaire. During the 1960s - 1974+ he was a First Aid Medical Trainer in the Volunteer Corps Curaçao (VKC). On August 21st , 1969, Michel Wilhelm Nuboer received the Order of Orange-Nassau (no. 122) from Her Majesty the Queen.
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Sorayma Carty from Amsterdam wrote on January 2, 2023 at 11:52 pm
Zeer verrast om te ontdekken dat mijn vader Pedro Henrietta (stamboeknummer 6268) als schutter tijdens de oorlog meevocht. Graag wil ik weten waar ik inhoudelijk informatie kan vinden. Ik ben dankbaar dat ik dit nog ontdekt heb. Het verklaart zoveel over zijn karakter en de lieve herrineringen dat ik van hem heb. Helaas was hij op 50 jarige leeftijd door een bedrijfsongeval komen te overlijden.
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