Sanches was born on 9 August 1915 in Ambarawa, Java, Dutch East Indies (nowadays Indonesia).

He ran into financial difficulties,[3] and joined the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1940 as a nurse.

[4] Sanches' navy career was cut short by the German invasion of the Netherlands, and he studied to become a medical laboratory technician in Utrecht.

[3] He met several Surinamese army volunteers who were also stuck in the Netherlands, and often had difficulties making a living.

[3] On the night of 7 to 8 November, they had planned to capture the Memre Boekoe barracks, and use the tanks and weapons which were at the barracks, to capture the police station, the telephone station, the Gouvernor's Palace, and Fort Zeelandia.

[11] On 5 April, all six conspirators were pardoned by Gouvernor Brons for the main sentence, i.e. the dishonorable discharge remained for the military personnel.