Jeannet Kleine Schaars nominated for the White Carnation Award

RTV oost 14 June 2023,

Jeannet is being recognized for her efforts

in organizing military return trips to Lebanon for veterans of the UNIFIL mission in 1988.
These are organised by Jeannet Kleine Schaars-Lunenberg and her husband Bert from Averlo. All this work has earned Jeannet a nomination for the White Carnation Award.
Today she will find out if she will receive the award.

The White Carnation Prize is dedicated to individuals who have made a meaningful impact on veterans and is named after the white carnation that Prince Bernhard always wore on his lapel.
The prize ceremony will take place today, in anticipation of Veterans Day, which falls on Saturday, June 24 next week. Interestingly, Jeannet nominated her husband, while he nominated her for this honor.

Book and travel
It was Veterans Day 2014 that marked the beginning of the work that Jeannet and her husband Bert do. He is a veteran, having served seven months in Lebanon in 1988 as part of a UN peacekeeping mission. "We didn't talk about it for years until we happened to be there for Veterans Day in 2014," she says.
There they saw old white UN cars and other relics from the mission. "That's when it came alive again and he started talking about it."
This led to her husband writing a book "The forgotten mission" about his time in Lebanon, including recording the stories of other veterans. The renewed contacts led to a trip to Lebanon in 2018.
A documentary, The Forgotten Mission, was also made about the trip. "It was such a fantastic trip, it does these men so good. We should do it more often.
We organised the fourth trip last April and there are more planned for this year," says Jeannet.

"My job is to support the partners," she explains. "Because it is incredibly nice to go on this trip together, to make new memories together. You see that it works well, that it heals.
Partners like me find it very exciting to go the first time. I am there before to reassure them and during the trip to be there for them. Not a boring job.

Picking up life after the mission

Being a veteran affects the rest of your life, she has found. "A lot of men don't talk about it. You hear a lot of stories in the media about men with PTSD. What is very upsetting is that most of the men were not diagnosed, did not suffer and went on with their lives after the deployment. They were 18, 19 at the time, it shapes you anyway. You go into a war situation. You were between two warring factions. You notice it in small things, sometimes in big things. Sometimes partners need help with that. Coming back does a lot of good for everybody. There are even veterans who say they no longer need therapy after going to Lebanon, because they get the recognition they need".

The National Veterans Day Committee will announce the winners of the White Carnation Prize at a ceremony at the Hotel des Indes on 14 June.
The winners of the White Carnation Award 2023 are Sterre van den Boogaard and Ruben Lindenhovius.