Air Force Lieutenant-General Ludolph H. van Oyen

Air Force Lieutenant-General Ludolph H. van Oyen

In December 1941, Air Force Lieutenant-General Ludolph H. van Oyen was in Pearl Harbor after he had visited the USA to speed up the delivery of American-built aircraft. He witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7th, 1941, and flew back to the Netherlands East Indies with a chartered crew and plane. He took over command from ML-KNIL Colonel Kengen, who in his place had acted as Commander-in-Chief ML-KNIL. Lt-General van Oyen was acting commander of the ML-KNIL until the erection of ABDA-command, in which he apparently didn't have a large role. This changed after ABDA-command was dismantled. Van Oyen escaped to Australia in March 1942 from where he left for the USA in April 1942. He became commander of the Flying School in Jackson, USA until October 1943 when he left for Australia to become the overall Army Commander.