As a former Spitfire pilot who flew 60 missions over Nazi-occupied Europe during the Second World War, George Brewster is not one to be rattled easily.
But he says experiencing the warmth and gratitude of the Dutch people who have come out to cheer him and other Canadian Second World War veterans this weekend has left him speechless.
“It’s a sense of wonder,” said the 102-year-old resident of Duncan, B.C., who’s visiting communities in the Netherlands as part of a Canadian delegation to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the war.
Twenty-two Canadian vets, ranging in age from 96 to 105, have made the long transatlantic trip. Several, like Brewster, saw action in the skies, at sea or on the ground in Holland during those crucial final months of intense combat.
“When you meet people you realize how gracious and kind they are, and how they remember. And that remembrance is a thing that is etched in my mind,” Brewster told CBC News.
On Saturday, thousands of residents of the city of Apeldoorn, which was liberated by Canadian troops on April 17, 1945, lined the streets and draped Canadian flags from their balconies as a parade with the veterans and bagpipers wound its way through the streets.
Volunteers handed out Canadian flags and pins, and many nearby homes were decorated with red maple leafs.
Brewster and the other vets, who were mostly pushed in wheelchairs, were treated like celebrities with onlookers reaching out to shake their hands and say thank you.
“I’m a very ordinary person who has lived through many extraordinary events, but only by the grace of God. And I’m humbled by this,” he said.
The push through Holland and the Rhineland by the First Canadian Army in 1944 and 1945 saw a series of vicious and ultimately decisive battles that helped seal the defeat of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.
Out of an estimated 175,000 Canadian soldiers who served in the First Canadian Army, 6,700 were killed.
It was a Canadian general who eventually accepted the surrender of Nazi forces in the Netherlands in the town of Wageningen on May 5, 1945, the date the Dutch now call “Liberation Day.”
With the country facing a severe famine due to a harsh winter and inhumane treatment by its Nazi occupiers, the Canadians saved countless Dutch from dying by quickly bringing in food supplies, and staying on for months afterward until the population could stand on its own.
“We are just grateful to those from overseas who came to our little country and set us free,” said 57-year-old Ronald Grin, who attended the Apeldoorn parade with his 27-year-old daughter, Shawna.
“They (the veterans) deserve everything — we have to welcome them back here. The youngest is 96 years old and that says how much we love them and they love us.”
Shawna Grin said she has visited all of the nearby cemeteries with Canadian war dead. The fact that there are 16-year-olds among them leaves her speechless.
“To see that they were that young, to die for my freedom, that means a lot to me.”
Travelling with the war veterans are more than 200 other Canadians. Many are close family of soldiers who fought in the Netherlands campaign.
Ellen Mole of Etobicoke, Ont., didn’t travel with the official delegation but said she felt compelled to come following an emotional experience being part of the bagpipe band during commemorations in 2010.
“It was just one of the most incredible experiences of my life,” she said, holding back tears.
“I was so proud to be Canadian. I really understood from the love and gratitude of the Dutch people how important our place can be and how we can help the world.”
For the veterans, it was also clearly an emotional day — especially for William Seifried, who celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday. When word spread, some in the large parade crowd sang Happy Birthday.
Seifried served as an infantryman with the Royal Regina Rifles and acted as a reconnaissance scout ahead of the front lines, an especially dangerous job.
Leading the Canadian delegation of veterans is 101-year-old Honorary Lt.-Gen. Richard Rohmer, who served as reconnaissance pilot in the skies over the Netherlands and later went on to a distinguished peacetime career with the Canadian military.
Rohmer told CBC he hopes Canadians make the connection between the liberation of the Netherlands 80 years ago and the need to maintain strong collective security relationships, such as NATO, which may be weakening under U.S. President Donald Trump.
“One of the things that we have to do in our country is to pay a lot more attention than we do about our own defence,” said Rohmer.
“NATO is a very important partnership … and to see it starting to come apart a little bit is not very encouraging because the big nations like Russia and others will take advantage if they possibly can. So I’m hopeful that Canada will do its part, fully.”
The Apeldoorn parade is one of several commemorations taking place this weekend.
Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon is set to lay a wreath at the Holten Canadian War Cemetery on Sunday and attend commemoration events in Wageningen the next day.
