sentences:  The grandeur of his funeral showed the great public esteem in which Dorus was held at the time.Dorus Rijkers had become a national hero and was by far the most popular Dutchman of those years (according to a poll that surveyed many people in the Netherlands during the 1920s).There is a huge statue erected in honor of all the Netherlands sea-rescuers, opened in 1935 and is sometimes mistakenly assumed to honour Dorus.