What is Rudi Hemmes?
{{Infobox person | name = Rudi Hemmes | image = Rudi Hemmes.JPG | caption = Hemmes in 2010 | birth_name = Rudi Willem Hemmes | birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|6|20|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Harderwijk]], Netherlands | death_date = {{death date and age|2022|11|13|1923|6|20|df=y}} | death_place = [[The Hague]], Netherlands | monuments = | residence = | nationality = Dutch | occupation = [[major general]] at the [[Royal Netherlands Air Force]] | known_for = | relatives = | awards = }} '''Rudi Willem Hemmes''' (20 June 1923 – 13 November 2022) was a Dutch [[Engelandvaarder]] and [[major general]] at the [[Royal Netherlands Air Force]].<ref name=ref1>{{cite web|url=https://nos.nl/artikel/2452363-verzetsheld-rudi-hemmes-99-overleden |title=Verzetsheld Rudi Hemmes (99) overleden|work=[[NOS]]|date=14 November 2022|access-date=14 November 2022|language=nl}}</ref><ref name=ref2>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/1420479225/oud-engelandvaarder-rudi-hemmes-99-overleden |title=Oud-Engelandvaarder Rudi Hemmes (99) overleden|work=[[De Telegraaf]]|date=14 November 2022|access-date=14 November 2022|language=nl}}</ref> He is seen as a figurehead of the [[Royal Netherlands Motorized Infantry Brigade]].<ref name=ref1 /> ==Biography== [[World War II]] started when Hemmes was sixteen years old. He decided to join the resistance. Among others he sabotaged German cars by throwing sugar into the petrol tanks. Together with a friend he decided to go to England in May 1943. Via France, Spain and Portugal they were able to arrive in England in May 1943, where they arrived in February 1944. There they joined the [[Royal Netherlands Motorized Infantry Brigade]] in [[Wolverhampton]]. On 8 August 8 1944 he landed with that brigade on the beaches of [[Normandy]], from where they moved to the Netherlands.<ref name=ref1 /> After the war he stayed in the army. In the 1970s he was commander of the Air Force Kaderschool in [[Schaarsbergen]].<ref name=ref1 /> Hemmes received several awards for his services. In 2013 he bacame an