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Canada's role in liberating the Netherlands from Nazi occupation was celebrated Tuesday, 70 years after the end of the Second World War.
A local delegation, in Kelowna's sister city of Veendam, took part in Liberation Day festivities and visited the Canadian Liberation Forest in nearby Groningen.
The day is in sharp contrast to the solemn ceremonies on Monday, which the Dutch call Remembrance Day. Tuesday saw parades and celebrations honouring the Canadian soldiers who fought there to free the country.
Those veterans are all in the 90s now, making this perhaps the last chance to thank them in person for the Dutch locals. Three members of the B.C. Dragoons, from Kelowna, were among those in attendance, along with Mayor Colin Basran and a contingent of locals.
Kelowna resident Shonah Montgomery, who is accompanying the group, shared her photos of the day's celebrations and the smiles on the war vets' faces.
Montgomery also visited the Oude Hervormde Kerk church in Oosterbeek.
The church was used as a stronghold during the war and was nearly destroyed. Since then, it has been rebuilt.
"The tree just outside hid four soldiers in the midst of the battle," said Montgomery. "A grenade was launched at the tree, killing three soldiers. Local houses near the church were used to house wounded soldiers, with locals attending to them."
The John Frost Bridge in Arnhem is visible from the church. It is the main bridge from the war's Operation Market Garden.
Another Castanet reader, Caleb Wong, shared images from a cousin in the Netherlands, commemorating the death of Canadian soldier Fred Butterworth in April 1945.
A plaque and wreaths on the home in Groningen, northwest of Veendam, honour Butterworth as the first Canadian soldier who killed in the liberation of the city. His tank was hit and set on fire, and it collided with the house.
"What really impacted me is that 70 years later, the Dutch people are still honouring the efforts and sacrifices of our Canadian soldiers, even where a lone soldier was killed," said Wong.
“It is good to realize that without these heroes, we didn’t get our freedom back," Wong's cousin said.
The Netherlands fell to the Germans in May 1940 and was not re-entered by Allied forces until September 1944.
The great majority of those buried in the Holten Canadian War Cemetery died during the last stages of the war in Holland, during the advance of the Canadian 2nd Corps into Germany.
After the end of hostilities, the remains of more than 1,300 Canadian soldiers were brought together into the cemetery.
