HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-07-20, Page 11THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2017. PAGE 11.
World War II artifacts find home in Netherlands
Back through history
Herman Mooy, a Blyth resident who was born in the Netherlands, recently returned some of
the belongings of Emmy Van Taack, his aunt and a Dutch World War II hero, to the
Netherlands during a 34 -day trip to the country. Mooy took items, including the jacket she
typically wore in parades and identification papers, both fake and real, from her time working
against the Nazis. The artifacts are now in a World War II archive in a municipal hall in the
Netherlands. Mooy is shown above with some of the documents. (File photo)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Blyth's Herman and Marlene
Mooy recently travelled to the
Netherlands to see belongings of
Herman's late aunt, Dutch World
War II hero Emmy Van Taack (nee
Vroege), returned to her home
country.
The Mooys made the trip to the
Netherlands to mark several special
occasions including Remembrance
and Liberation Days, and to see that
Herman's aunt's belongings made
their way home.
Herman said that a story about his
aunt in The Citizen late last year
contributed to the items being
brought back home. He said sharing
the story with some people in the
Netherlands put him in touch with a
World War II archive that would
provide a good home for the
artifacts.
The trip, which served both as a
vacation for the Mooys and as a final
trip across the Atlantic for Van
Taack's goods, saw the couple gone
for 34 days in April and May.
FireF• •
it a friendly competition
Practice makes perfect
Brussels firefighter Chris Gibson is one of five local
firefighters competing in the FireFit competition. He is
shown above training in Goderich. (DennyScottphoto)
Continued from page 10
people saying they should have
done better, or they wish they
shaved three seconds. Everyone is
really supportive of everyone else,
but they are all rough on
themselves."
The firefighters is getting ready
for the next event on Aug. 26 in
Oshawa and spend their Saturday
and Sunday mornings training.
Normally, they train at the FDNH
Wingham fire hall, however on
Saturday, the team took to the
Goderich beach to take advantage of
the long stairs from the beach to the
bluffs of the town. While it's
difficult to match the steepness of
the six -storey stairs that travel with
the competition, Elliott said the
Goderich site was the closest they
could find.
Aside from thanking their friends,
family and fire departments for the
support they receive, the squad also
said they needed to thank Wescast
Industries Inc. in Wingham, which
allowed the team to use its training
dummy since late 2016.
"We have really benefitted from
having that," Gibson said.
For more information, or to
follow results from the event, visit
www.firefit.com
While there, the Mooys observed
Remembrance Day in the
Netherlands, which falls on May 4,
and Liberation Day, on May 5,
which marks the end of the
occupation of the country by Nazi
Germany in 1945.
Remembrance Day is a solemn
occasion, Herman said, saying
people gather and go to cemeteries,
walking from town centres while
church bells toll. He said wreaths are
laid for both Jewish people and
soldiers and even this year, which
isn't an anniversary year, the
moment is still recognized.
Marlene went to a special
ceremony in a bush near Herman's
family home where eight British
Royal Air Force officers were killed
in a plane crash. Herman spoke of
the site when relaying Van Taack's
tale, though he said now the site has
become a recognized memorial.
"There were eight pyramid cedars
planted there for the pilots and a
plaque by the engineer who found
the crash site during the war," he
said. "The trees are huge now, and
there is still shrapnel and trees shorn
off that show where it went down.
Over the last number of years, you
could walk there and there was just a
simple white cross on a post to mark
the location."
Marlene said the site was opened
this year, with people able to drive to
it. Between 150 and 200 people
there for Remembrance Day.
Van Taack's goods were delivered
to a municipal hall that serves as a
museum and archive for World War
II in a location called Gemeente
Nunspeet. Herman explained the
items were immediately
photographed for digital availability
to make sure that, even if the items
themselves are loaned out, people
can always see them.
Included among the items donated
to the museum were Van
Taack'sjacket, medal and fake and
real war -time identification cards.
"They were thrilled to have
everything," Herman said. "They
loved it."
He said he didn't know what will
happen with the items once they are
identified and properly catalogued,
but he said the collection is
definitely appreciated by the archive.
TULIP FIELDS, EVENT
The Mooys' trip also allowed
Herman and Marlene to visit several
horticulture -related events in the
country, which he shared with the
Friends of the Village gardening
group via social media when he got
home.
He visited a polder, an area
reclaimed from the sea to expand an
area, which was filled with tulip
bulbs to be sent throughout the
world.
"It was a kaleidoscope of colour,"
Herman said. "It's amazing to see.
There are no fences, only ditches
which both separate the crops and
keep the water level below the crops.
There were red, pink, white and
yellow tulips in giant fields."
Herman and Marlene also went to
a tulip exposition at Keukenhof
Gardens, a special event for bulb
growers in the Netherlands.
The event allows the growers to
publically display their works. Each
producer is given a plot and they are
able to make arrangements the way
they want, Herman said.
The day included the Canada
Tulip, which is called the
Happy Generation Tulip in the
Netherlands.
The event really shows how
connected the Netherlands is to
Canada, he said, and represents a
good relationship. He pointed to
several different types of tulips
named after areas in Canada, such as
the Calgary Tulip.
The site features eight million
tulip bulbs and welcomes more than
one million visitors to the site during
the two-week event.
Broken Washer?
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