My father had three close childhood friends, Ben, Bob and Tom Jerne.
Ben, not shown here, had distinguished himself in the US Army during WW2. He died young in the 1950s. I inherited several of his clothing which fitted perfectly, including a cream checkered vest very fashionable in the US at the time which I absolutely loved and wore a lot.
Bob, sitting on the grass on the left, remained a good friend, but we did not see much of him at Martinshof over the years.
Tom Jerne (sitting in the left deck chair, his wife Nel on the grass in front of him) , remained throughout my father's life (and even after that) a close and caring friend of the family.
During my teens I had quite a crush on Tom's daughter Ingrid (standing next to me with spade over her shoulder). The feelings were not returned, I was a good friend, but clearly not her type. She later immigrated with her husband to California and at one stage sent me fotos of hand made creative masks she liked to make. Daughter Elja, sitting on Tom's lap, looked after her parents during their final years. Son Hans Kai, on the grass behind the car and next to my brother Claus, later worked at Martinshof for a while.
My mother is sitting in the middle, my sister Wivica is standing next to me with her hands clasping her face.