They are now around a hundred years old, the war veterans who liberated Europe in 1944 and 1945. There are fewer and fewer of them and things are moving fast. So a visit from a liberator is special these days. That realization also dawned on a short commemoration in Bergen op Zoom on Sunday morning.
“It is of course a solemn event, but it still makes me happy,” says Jim Parks (98). He visits the Canadian cemetery near Bergen op Zoom with three sons and grandchildren. More than 1100 graves are buried there, mainly those killed in the Battle of the Scheldt in which he also fought.
Thanks
Mayor Frank Petter personally receives the veteran. “Thank you for what you have done for us”. Then the mayor takes him to the graves in his wheelchair. Walking is difficult for Jim.
Jim was able to enlist in the Canadian Army at the age of fifteen by pretending to be older. In the early morning of June 6 D-day, the mortar gunner was in the middle of the first wave of attacks on Juno Beach, Normandy. “We fought there for ten weeks”.
Commemorations
Then the young sergeant freed with his Royal Winnipeg Rifles parts of Belgium and Zeeland. Through liberated Brabant, he moved with his unit to Groesbeek for the breakthrough to the north of the Netherlands, including Dokkum and Delfzijl. Since 2015, Jim regularly returns for commemorations.
Busloads of veterans came to the first major commemorations in the 1990s. This has declined rapidly in recent years. That is not crazy. The youngest veterans like Jim are almost a hundred. You don’t see them anymore at most commemorations.
Tank
How fast it goes is clear from the story of Rick Boon (59) who is also at the field of honor on Sunday. His father Arthur should have been here too. Arthur was an air gunner on a Sherman tank. “Dad always said he thought the Battle of the Scheldt was worse than D-Day,” says Rick.
It’s been three weeks now Arthur (98) passed away. “It’s emotionally hard not to see him here,” Rick says.
flags
All attention goes to Jim. With a pile of Canadian flags he goes to the graves. Along the way he plants them at various stones and he pauses for a moment, in thought. “The people here are left behind”.
His wife stayed at home, but three sons follow closely behind. Grandchildren also travel with them. “That gratitude here, we see it again and again. It is incredible and it moves me again and again,” says grandson Andrew (31). He says that he still hears new stories from grandfather. “We want to continue to remember, to carry on his legacy.
The visit to the cemetery makes an impression, also on the people of the Brabantse Wal commemoration committee. They realize that Jim may be the last veteran to visit. “It could be so,” says Paul Versijp.
Signature
Coincidentally, a group of cyclists from England pass by. They all want to shake Jim’s hand and thank him. Jim does so with pleasure and even hands out an autograph.
Jim has a busy week ahead of him. He goes to Dokkum and Delfzijl, where he entered as a liberator. Jim would like to experience 80 years of liberation next year, if possible.
Next week, on May 4, the Netherlands will commemorate the dead since the Second World War and celebrate the liberation on May 5.