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The Dutch Never Forget Doug Kirker returns to Liberation of the Netherlands celebration.
I was two years old when he went abroad, said Doug Kirker, sitting quietly in her living room in Prescott I don t remember what I remember, even though I was so young, was to see that old phone on the wall of our house and see my grandmother and my mother cry and cry, I can still see.
The official word arrived in Brinston, Ontario Lorne Kirker, little boy in the city, graduate of Iroquois High School, proud member of the Governor General's Foot Guards - and Doug's father - was killed in action near a city Moerstraten called in Holland.
The Foot Guards, part of the First Canadian Army, was sent shortly after D-Day, to try to force the Germans entrenched in Holland or draw completely outside the Netherlands, or to travel to Holland had was under Nazi occupation for nearly four years as part of a main defense strategy, the Germans around Moerstraten opened the dikes in the region, deeply flooding the fields south of the city Lorne Kirker tank drove tried plow the waterlogged flat farmland on the morning of October 29.1944 its heavy tank could not move quickly in difficult conditions and maneuverability have been compromised.
Suddenly, the Canadian tank was raked by fire from repeated devastating machine gun.
When he was silent again, four members of the crew were dead.
In the battle, the men were often hastily buried where they fell, thus causing Lorne Kirker was buried Moerstraten But in the months after the end of the war, his body was moved to Bergen Op Zoom at reburied in a large Canadian war cemetery created not far from the city.
May 5, 1945, is the day when the Dutch people call their Liberation Day This was the day when the German forces in the Netherlands surrendered officially to Canadians after nine months of vicious fighting it is a day the Dutch never forget .
This year, in May 2015, the 70th anniversary of the liberation, the Dutch government and survivors the Canadian veterans of this campaign, and the descendants of the 7600 Canadian soldiers killed in combat, to join the national celebration of release.
Although he went to Holland while to find his father's grave, Doug had never been back Thirty-five years later, he decided, with his daughter, Lesley, it should do the memorial journey into a of KLM chartered special planes.
The plane, we traveled from Toronto was packed, Doug said there was even a pipe band, Mariposa Drums pipes, along with and as we were nine real veterans of the Holland campaign, they were aged 87-97, and there was great pride and energy in these men.
Canadians have a taste of the welcome that awaited them on landing at Amsterdam Our plane was traveling to the terminal when he suddenly stopped the fire trucks came out along the side greeted the veterans with a screen water When we got off the plane, the crew was lined up to wish us luck He was really something.
Again and again, Canadian visitors discovered the deep and lasting appreciation of the Dutch for their liberators, they should not forget the streets and cities and buildings bear the names of Canadian soldiers War Cemeteries are immaculate, manicured each grave often by children of the Dutch school I was really tense during this trip, said Doug Kirker But I found a significant sense of closure on this trip it was an honor to go to my father the grave Dutch really care, even after 70 years and every time I said Lesley, it can not get better than that, the Netherlands showed us something else which was fantastic.
His host family, Gerrit and Hanneke Brillman, made their Canadian guests very welcome They led them to most Canadian cemeteries, took memorial services and celebrations The major Brillmans also took them to the War Museum international memory where we saw artifacts of war, guns and real bombs, original uniforms, Dutch Jews had to wear stars, tanks and machine guns and jeeps.
We went to Moerstraten to see the monument that marks where soldiers like my father died is wooded around the monument now, but in 1945, the images show a sterile field We joined children from the local school and their teachers Lesley for a commemoration ceremony faded poppy pins quarters and Canadian flags.
And then we went to Bergen Op Zoom, to finally beside a grave marked Guardsman LR Kirker Lesley and I laid a wreath with the word Canada against stone dad We also placed banners of Prescott and Iroquois legions there and then we put some private personal memories and with him he was sad to see that one side of him was another, aged 24 and the other, aged 18.
In Wageningen, the Kirkers joined thousands in the parade that honored veterans and Canadian soldiers They heard Canadees Volkslied, the national anthem of Canada took the streets were lined with people They even waved our bus, Doug recalled It was deeply touching.
Doug shared a sidebar story the same day we arrived at the cemetery in Bergen op Zoom, the authorities were digging a new grave in the Canadian cemetery, we found out later that the excavations along a channel had revealed the grave of a Canadian soldier unmarked with the help of Canadian military and the government, the Dutch were able to identify this soldier, even after 70 years it was Pt Albert Laubenstein Saskatoon Netherlands organized a ceremony and finally buried among his comrades.
Kirker The family continues a tradition of service to this nation My grandfather, George Dunn, served in the First World War Lesley is a correctional officer, like my other daughter, explained Doug is a son OPP, and the other is a retired firefighter.
Doug Kirker believes that travel in 2015 in Holland was, for him, the trip of a lifetime to 72 years, it is unlikely to return to Europe, to see again the tomb of his father, but a new generation of Kirkers came to take care of the grandfather and great grandfather they never knew My daughter said it was a trip that changed his view of the family, and gave him the first time, understand how the Dutch felt about their liberation She could not get on the gratitude of the nation to Canada in 2020, I think she plans to take her children in the Netherlands to make the connections.
And to visit the grave in a quiet Dutch special cemetery.
Volkswagen Golf Bergen op Zoom, Bergen, zooming, said Doug Kirker.