Honour and Memory

The whole reason this trip took place was my Grandfather MacIntosh’s last wish was for the family to come to Holland and honour his memory. He served in the Canadian Army in World War II and, along with most of the Canadian troops, liberated Holland from the Germans in 1945. While other nations were involved in some battles, Canada truly liberated the country and restored freedom to a people that spent five years in complete misery. I don’t think the Canadian public really understand how appreciative the Dutch people are of our country’s efforts.

I can’t really talk about what we did today, other then we carried out his wishes as best as we could...

One story I can share is an object outside a World War II museum in Nijverdal. This piece of metal sits without an explanatory label out front...

So I asked our guide what it was. It was recently unearthed in the town and it was part of a bridge that had been bombed out during the war. And if you look at it up close, you can tell a serious amount of force was involved in blowing it up. He also told us that two live bombs were recently found that had been dropped on the town during the war. They were found during work on a train track and had buried in the earth below- somehow they didn’t blow up over decades of train vibrations. It's so lucky that they never blew up, but it shows that the aftermath of war can be found long after the battles are over...