the Netherlands in the spring beautiful flowers in full bloom Parks pristine streets spotless it's a fir cry from what the same spots were like 70 years ago the Germans had leveled the cities murdered those who got in the way and sent tens of thousands of Jews to be gassed in death camps the Dutch who were left were starving after the 5 years of brutal Nazi occupation by 1945 they were so hungry some were eating tulip bulbs to stay alive the starved Rick ridden bodies of this Dutch family are witnesses to the treatment the Germans Meed
out to our friends in h that's when the Canadians arrived blasting their way into towns like this one appledor crushing the Nazis liberating the [Music] people the Dutch have never forgotten never and this week they'll be in these streets again by the thousands to welcome back some of those Canadians now in their '90s who gave them their country their lives [Music] back I've been coming here for 20 years never ceasing to be amazed at the Dutch determination to say thank you the street with its penants and Canadian flags is representative of many streets across the
Netherlands right now as the Dutch Mark the major contribution that Canada played in The Liberation of their country half a century ago I'm very young I only heard stories from my grandfather and grandmother but uh yes they freed us 50 years ago so that's why I'm here I think it's a it's a love affair between the Canadians and the Dutch well 60 years is an awfully long time but not long enough for the Dutch to forget the pain the loss the suffering and the oppression of living under Nazi rule all those years during the second
world war and not long enough either to forget the Liberation and those who brought it to it's a beautiful day this world I'm feeling liberated 107,000 people left this place on the trains destined for the death camps of Nazi occupied Europe 102,000 of them perished in those camps on days like this the Dutch come to remember what happened here more than 65 years ago the C life was dominated by the train the train was taking away 2, 3, 4,000 prisoners and you prayed being not on the list why do they never forget just listen to
some of the stories we've heard over the years and I said do you eat that every day sure you want some I'll give you a whole loaf a whole loaf of white BD I ran to the house and I planted it on The Breakfast Table and I said here look at it Canadians are here look at this street sign in an apple Dorn suburb if the name looks Canadian it's because it is a dozen streets in this neighborhood are named after one of the almost 8,000 Canadians who never came home from the battle what was
it about those young men who through the generations the Dutch won't stop thanking who were those [Music] guys George Beal was one of them a major with the 48th Highlanders every few days he'd stop and write a letter home to his wife Ruth in Toronto this is one of them here's what he said my own darling I haven't written you for 5 days I didn't feel much like it sweetie as we were fighting again and I was is awfully busy and we've been having a tough fight at the moment I'm sitting in a city called
Apple Dorn and the queen's palace is within 100 yards of me that's the queen's palace right over there we're about 100 yards from it he might have been right here we entered the town proper this morning after a big advance from the isil river I'm fine Ruth so don't worry although I'm very tired the enemy is running like the devil again and we have to to chase him the fighting was bloody and the dying but through it all George wrote to Ruth about the love he had for his men he wrote this one on Sunday
April 22nd I have fought and lived with those men for over a year and to me they seemed as though they were part of my family they never refused to go any place I ordered and did everything I asked them to cheerfully and willingly knowing most of the time that I might be sending them to their deaths there were lots of individual Canadian heroes here army men like George Beal but Air Force Flyers too 50 years ago these fields near Nela in Southeastern Holland were homebased for a Royal Canadian Air Force Spitfire Squadron one of
those Canadian Pilots was a 22-year-old chap from Lethbridge Alberta whose name was Richard odet well near the end of December 1944 odet had flown more than 50 missions but up until that point he had scored no German kills well on the 29th of December 1944 all that changed when Richard odet flew out of one of these fields he flew right into the history books before he returned he had shot down five German aircraft no other Canadian pilot no other British pilot had scored that many victories in one Mission meanwhile Frontline Fighters broke through to capture
key strategic locations all this was happening as the Nazis were facing their final desperate days until that last moment when the fighting and the dying suddenly stopped 70 years ago this week the war ended and here's what George Beal wrote to Ruth on that same day you can feel the emotion in his voice darling You couldn't possibly have any idea just what kind of a reception it has been and still is the people go simply mad and I had the honor darling of being the leading vehicle my Jeep any town we went through the people
crowded the roads and we had a most difficult time getting past them they all want to touch your hand or even kiss you and they simply pelted us with flowers my Jeep looked like a florish shop it does make all the hardships worthwhile when you see the joy of these liberated [Music] people for this year's returning Heroes new medals from the local mayor your memories your thoughts guide us as we shape our future and you thoughts about an old battle well I was stationed here during the war I'm not surprised as a as a Canadian
women's Army courp which I'm very proud of and it brings back so many memories and I always have a place in my heart for Holland for Apple door it's a great great day you know for the little thing we did we get so much a thousand time more time the Dutch people are so the Dutch people are the best people in the world and I mean [Music] it Fen inan just down the road from appledorn in that little building that's where the Germans finally surrendered these extraordinary pictures capture the moment to the commander and chief
21 Army group these forces to lay down their arms and to surrender unconditionally and there at the table Canadian General George kitching distinguished then and just as distinguished when I chatted with him at the same table 50 years later how do you feel when you come back in this room it's almost as if they're ghosts as if you as a German the opposite side of the table Peter it it was full of people then um any any movement the quiet it was a very quiet room and in spite of the fact that there were 30
Canadian supporters they were quiet the general is gone now and so are many of the men who fought with him but the ones who are left the ones who still come the ones the Dutch young and old still so adore are here with their Memories the ones that hurt the ones that leave them quiet and the ones that somehow make them smile I've never felt that I sacrificed anything to be part of a liberating Army there were so many Canadians who lost their lives here in in the Netherlands how did you handle that on a
day-to-day basis I put it out of my mind all together but nonetheless I cry when I go to the cemetery and see my friends grave I never learned to cry you just feel it inside what uh what does it mean to you guys to be remembered the way you are here in this country the way they they look at you the way they react to you it's 70 years ago that we were here but still the kids are still still enthusiastic about what we did here 70 years ago and I I I love to see
kids the way they greet us and the way they they look at they look in such admiration at us you know really it was something to uh to feel the the happiness the The Joy The Liberation I asked the people I was staying with what is this touching bit you know they ask permission to touch you and and I couldn't get over that so they want to touch a liberator and they want their children to touch a liberator 20 years ago I asked the then mayor of appledorn why it was that the Dutch never forgot
the Canadians his answer was very simple very direct he said you have to have been a occupied to appreciate what Freedom really means and when you do you never forget who gave it to you that's why Canada is never forgotten here never [Music]
