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This is the third is a series this week prior to Remembrance Day from Okanagan-based writer Allison Markin on her recent visit to the Netherlands, and Dutch appreciation for Canadian valour during World War II. Part one is here. Part two.
As Canadians prepare to attend Remembrance ceremonies across the country tomorrow, many will gather at cenotaphs and memorials throughout the Okanagan to pay tribute to those who served in our Armed Forces, and who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Every October, sombre commemoration ceremonies take place in and around the Dutch city of Bergen Op Zoom. One such commemoration takes place at a Canadian War Cemetery where soldiers who fought between 1939 and 1945, including at the “forgotten” Battle of the Scheldt, found their final resting place. This year, the ceremony took place on October 22, photos of it are here.
More than 1,200 are buried in this graveyard, 116 with no name. Walking through the rows upon rows of headstones, you would be hard-pressed to find any who made it beyond their early twenties. There are many from the Black Watch, the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, the Calgary Highlanders, the South Alberta, and the Lincoln and Welland -- the list of Canadian regiments goes on and on.
Several of these regiments approached the city on October 27, 1944, seized it, then in the days following fought a fierce battle to keep it. One of the areas where they battled was renamed Canadalaan, or Canada Lane. Each house has a Canadian flag, and as one city official who lives there describes it, if you decide to move, “you just need to tell one person” and your house is sold.
In many ways, this ceremony is like those here in Canada. The Maple Leaf and poppy pins are ever present. Young soldiers march in memory of those who came before them. A band plays Abide with Me, and later, The Last Post. Politicians representing numerous countries lay wreaths, and the Canadian anthem is sung. Then, the anthem of the Netherlands.
A handful of Canadian veterans — from this battle and others — can be spotted in the large crowd. It is hard to get to them as they speak to the attendees who have approached them to say thank you. Local journalists vie for interviews with anyone in a Canadian uniform. When asked why he is here for this story, one reporter comments, as he looks towards a grave, “I’m the same age as him. He came here for the freedom of the Dutch people. It’s important to remember this.”
During the ceremony, Sabine Nölke, the Dutch ambassador to Canada, tells the story of Richard “Dick” Connor, who died on October 28, 1944 at the age of 21, and reads a letter his friend Sheldon MacDonald wrote to Dick’s family about the moment his friend died, and his “high sense of honour.”
“If there is one thing that I believe about all of these soldiers, all of these once living boys, in this hallowed place, that they have in common, it is just that. A high sense of honour,” said Nölke. “Honour in living. Honour in doing what is necessary. Honour in doing what is right. Honour in going forward when the risk is substantial…when the risk includes making the ultimate sacrifice. Who among us would make such choices in the face of the threats we face today?”
This ceremony is part of Canadays, an annual commemoration of the liberation of this region by Canadian troops in 1944. A memorandum of understanding and proclamation exists to build the relationship between these two countries, and plans are already underway to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation in 2019.
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