At great risk to their own lives and the lives of their ten children, Bernard and Dora Prinzen sheltered seven downed Allied airmen in German-occupied Holland during the last tumultuous months of World War II. Fifty years later, Doris Mayberry, the wife of one of the airmen, 2nd Lieutenant Owen L. Mayberry, USAAF, wrote down the story of the courageous Prinzen family and of the seven airmen and produced the initial manuscript of Seven On A Mat.

Under dire circumstances after the end of the war, the Prinzens emigrated from their war-ravaged country to the tranquil farming community of Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada. They brought with them their remarkable wartime experience of working closely with the Dutch Underground to keep the Allied airmen out of the hands of the Nazis.

In 2020, on the eve of the 75th anniversary of Victory-in-Europe Day (VE Day), the youngest of the Prinzen children, Benny, who at age four had been an active participant in the wartime events described in Seven On A Mat, passed along a copy of Doris Mayberry’s manuscript to the Prince Edward Historical Society.

To commemorate the VE Day anniversary, the Prince Edward Historical Society is proud to present this remarkable account of faith, luck and courage during World War II.