1/6 1000 Canadian students commemorate countrymen who freed us
On the Canadian honorary field in Bergen op Zoom on Sunday was perhaps the busiest commemoration ever. A thousand Canadian youth alone honored the liberators with a tulip. And a letter, poem or homemade artwork. Hundreds of local residents also flowed to experience the exceptional and impressive visit. Tears flowed abundantly. In the speeches, there was also a native Canadian language for the first time.
An invasion. But then a peaceful. You cannot describe it differently, the enormous influx of Canadian students on this Sunday 4 May: Remembrance Day. Led in nearly thirty coaches. And preceded by their teachers, sometimes with a flag or sign from their ‘high school’.
With map in hand they walk directly to ‘their’ tombstone. Because at home in Canada they searched for the man under that stone. And his life story that ended abruptly and violently at Woensdrecht, Welberg, Wouwse Plantage, in the polder at Kapelsche Veer or anywhere in our country. The thousand students are 16, 17 or 18 years old. They are in 37 schools throughout Canada.
The Canadian youth each adopted a grave on the honorary field. They are now finally facing the stone. It clears some. For viewers it is a goosebump moment.
Bastian adopted the grave of soldier Thomas Swift. “He was 42 years old when he died. My grandfather and grandmother were also in the army then. I think they were very brave.” Whether Bastian himself would dare? “Maybe”.
Tessa adopted the grave of Captain Arthur Hooper. “I think you can be very proud if you fight for a country that is not yours.” She is a bit sad about all the gravestones, she says. But she is grateful that they are so neat and well cared for.
There are wreath layings by Mayor Mulder van Bergen op Zoom and Commissioner of the King Adema and Dutch veterans but also of many, many students. “We will remember them,” it sounds in four languages this time. Dutch and of course English and French as official languages of Canada.
“We appreciate what you do here for them.”
But, as far as is known, also for the first time in a language that few know: the Ojibwe. It is the language of the First Nations, as they are called. These are the original inhabitants of Canada, who used to be called Indians. A girl reads a text in Ojibwe. The scope is clear: ‘Thank you for giving your life for our freedom. We will continue to remember. ”
The special sounds make an impression. “It is very good that we hear and acknowledge this. Those people are always suppressed. We were very bad for them,” explains a student after the ceremony.
There are not only students. The relatives of fallen soldiers visit the honorary field throughout the year. Far family of Bill Segriff for example. He was only 19 years old when he died in the polder at the battle for Woensdrecht, on the infamous Black Friday October 13, 1944.
“We always heard his name in the family and about the tough time they experienced. About that first telegram that came that he was missing and then shortly thereafter that he was really dead,” says one of his descendants. “We are proud of him.” The distant family members are here for the second time and are again impressed by the hospitality and commemoration. “We appreciate what you do here for them”. The Segriff family has taken a huge bunch of orange flowers. Eighty pieces for the eighty years of freedom.
“It lets you think about everything we need to fight for.”
“Very beautiful, very important, very nice,” one of the students from Ontario summarizes this visit. “It is also current because so much bad is happening in the world again,” adds one of the students. “It lets you consider everything we need to fight for. Hopefully we don’t have to fight for it again”.
Teachers are enthusiastic about the reception. “We feel so welcome,” says one of the teachers who travel. “We really left our tears free run. It is a fantastic way to show what happened here. We don’t have such places with us”.
The students still have a full program. But on Monday they can relax in the Efteling.
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Only Canadian cemetery in Brabant
The Canadian War Cemetery is located on the east side of Bergen op Zoom. It is the only Canadian cemetery in Noord-Brabant. There are more than 1100 graves with mainly victims of the Battle of the Scheldt, in the fall of 1944.
But there are also Canadian soldiers who died earlier in the Second World War, such as aircraft crews.
There are also soldiers who washed up on the Dutch and Zeeland coast after the battle and evacuation at Dunkirk in the spring of 1940 and the failed attack on the French coastal town of Dieppe in the summer of 1942. In addition to Canadians, there are also more than a hundred British, Australian and New Zealand soldiers.
Many soldiers were still very young. Three of them were seventeen years old when they were killed. There is also a general. It is John Lane from Bermuda who led an artillery unit.
Next to this honorary field is the War Cemetery of the Commonwealth. That is the largest in Brabant with more than 1300 graves. They are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) that has around 23,000 locations with allied graves in 150 countries.
There will be a visitor and reflection center between the two Bergse Vreies. That opens its doors at the beginning of 2026.