CANADA AND THE LIBERATION OF THE NETHERLANDS, MAY 1945
CANADA AND THE LIBERATION OF THE NETHERLANDS, MAY 1945
LANCE GODDARD
FOREWORD BY MAJOR-GENERAL RICHARD ROHMER
Copyright Lance Goddard, 2005
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from the Access Copyright.
Editor: Barry Jowett
Copy-Editor: Andrea Pruss
Design: Jennifer Scott
Printer: University of Toronto Press
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Goddard, Lance
Canada and the liberation of the Netherlands, May 1945 / Lance Goddard.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-10: 1-55002-547-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-55002-547-7
1. Canada. Canadian Army--History--World War, 1939-1945. 2. World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Netherlands. 3. World War, 1939-1945--Netherlands. I. Title.
D763.N4G63 2005 | 940.54'21492 | C2005-900172-0 |
3 4 5 09 08 07 06 05
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporations Ontario Book Initiative.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.
J. Kirk Howard, President
Printed and bound in Canada.
Printed on recycled paper.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night.
~ Elie Wiesel
FOREWORD BY MAJOR-GENERAL RICHARD ROHMER
The bravery and sacrifice of Canadian soldiers and airmen during the hard-fought battle for the liberation of the Netherlands is the stuff of legend and cause for eternal gratitude on the part of the people of the Netherlands.
Their never-ending affection for the liberating Canadians who freed them from the cruelly oppressive German forces has been handed down from generation to generation. It is still alive and visible in the sixtieth year since the Victory in Europe. On May 5, at the small town of Wageningen near Arnhem and Nijmegen, in the presence of my late friend, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, German generals signed protocols of capitulation surrendering Denmark and the Netherlands. They surrendered the rest of Europe on May 8, 1945. The Second World War in Europe was finished. The Netherlands was truly liberated. May 8 is celebrated each year as VE (Victory in Europe) Day.
It is fitting that Lance Goddards graphic book of individual recollections and stories of Canadians and citizens of Holland be published in celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of VE Day.
These gripping accounts of fighting days among the dangerous dykes and flooded lands and in the air over Dutch terrain provide a new perspective on how it was in the presence of a skilled and deadly enemy. As told by veterans, Goddards stories of death, injury, suffering, survival, and victory in the Netherlands are personal to each veteran and still alive in the memory and emotions of the speaker.
What is little known is that before D-Day, June 6, 1944, the decision had been made by the British and American senior commanders under General Eisenhower that the Canadian RCAF squadrons of the 2nd Tactical Air Force (Spitfires, Typhoons, and Mustangs) supporting the Allied armies in Europe would be dedicated to the British army. The British Royal Air Force squadrons would be there in support of the Canadian army.
So it was that when the RCAF squadrons arrived at tactical airfields in Holland in the fall of 1944 they were in support of the British army in the eastern sector of Holland. Many took part in the disastrous Montgomery operation in Arnhem and Nijmegen and in the British actions that eventually drove the German forces across the Maas River on Hollands eastern boundary.
As a result, the Canadian Army, assigned to the western reaches of the Netherlands in the most difficult and brutal territories, fought without Canadian air support.
Nevertheless, the valiant members of both the Canadian Army and the RCAF share equally in the victory, the Liberation of the Netherlands.
The people of the Netherlands even today are grateful to the people of Canada and to the Canadian veterans of the battle for the liberation of the Netherlands. This book will tell readers why the Dutch love Canadians.
Major-General Richard Rohmer, OC, CMM, DFC, O.Ont, QC
A Canadian RCAF fighter pilot
and
Veteran of the Battle for the Liberation of the Netherlands
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
THE DUTCH
Ted Brabers, President, Royal Netherlands Marine Corps Veterans Association
Elly Dull
Lini Grol
Liedewij Hawke
Jack Heidema, Dutch Resistance
Corrie Schogt
Henry Schogt
Martin van Denzen, President, Dutch Canadian Association of GTA
Helena van Doren
Gert vant Holt, Chairman, Welcome Again Veterans Committee
Ada Wynston
THE CANADIAN SOLDIERS AND AIRMEN
Al Armstrong, 14th Canadian Hussars
Charles Barrett, Highland Light Infantry
Doug Barrie, Highland Light Infantry
Cliff Chadderton, Royal Winnipeg Rifles
Bill Clifford, RCAF
Jan de Vries, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion
John Drummond, Regina Rifle Regiment/Saskatoon Light Infantry
Mervin Durham, Royal Canadian Engineers
Norman Edwards, 14th Canadian Hussars
Pierre Faribault, Fusiliers Mont-Royal
Charles Fosseneuve, 13th Field Artillery
Harry Fox, Hastings Prince Edward Regiment
Sydney Frost, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry
Lockhart Fulton, Royal Winnipeg Rifles
T. Garry Gould, Sherbrooke Fusiliers
John Honsberger, 4th Canadian Armoured Division
Roy Kelley, Lorne Scots
Douglas Lavoie, Fort Garry Horse
Jack Martin, Queens Own Rifles
Gordon Mortensen, B.C. Dragoons
George Mummery, Highland Light Infantry
Ed Newman, Royal Hamilton Light Infantry
Jim Parks, Royal Winnipeg Rifles
Jack Read, Regina Rifle Regiment
Richard Rohmer, RCAF 430 Squadron
Russell Sanderson, Black Watch
Al Sellers, Governor Generals Horse Guards