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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1990-06-06, Page 3f . w ars -BY PAULA 'ELL/101r DIM* is ate a torn way'away, and. ago, Fifty years ahnost. to the day A,nd bo. marry, Dunkirk and all that it stands •for !s only remembered by the pages, of a history book •But to Peter Malcolm; Dunkirk is as viv}'d as yesterday.. Both the day that)it happened, and tit's five Io`st years that followed it. Peter Maleblia doesn't fi..nd ,the "Miracle of Dunkirk" easy: to talk about The words, ,And the pictures that they,conjure up, come halting ly. But when they do, ten Pullitzer Prize -whining history books couldn't tie was a boy of 23, a member of. the 51st Highland Division, on June' 5 194. On that day, most of the British Expeditionary Forces bad been evacuated from behind the Maginot Line, but over 45,000'forces - including Peter Malcolm's Highlanders - had been kept behind in rearguard action. They didn't know that they were trapped there. :Peter'Malcohia, a native of Perth, Scotland, had joined theAritash R0006 rn 1932 and seine(! as a Peacetune soldier to the Territorial Rer'vicee for aelren year When war was declared, Peter and;thousanjds others were butxiled off to serge. He joined the $hack Watch regi='. meat and was later transferred to. the Royal Army Service Corps. anti: tl#Q n were de m fermi r. 31e arrived in Franceeorr It was quite a big rnistake...Englafad wasnot ready '' far war,Mr color twn Mal cedes, tanks 1 adding that, "our were just •.tu the Gerznau ..war machine. Peter Malcolm remembers distinctly the Brigadier General Rommel of Germany, who came up to the thousands: of men who had been forced' back to the beach by the advance of the German tanks and ,infantry. He was a big man, he remembers, dressed all in black. Ile, came up - to the men on Memories rekindled, on veteran's Holland Seaforth Legion Branch 156 hostess, picked the Seaforth couple member Neil Bell, accompanied by up and they were soon en'oying his wife Edna, was one of the hun- dreds of World War II veterans who flew back to Holland early in May. Veterans from all across Canada made the : pilgrimage to mark the 45th anniversary of the liberation of Holland by the Cana-. dean forces. The couple travelled with the "Thank You Canada" group who flew out ;of Toronto International. Airport on May 1. The visitors were billeted in Dutch homes dur- ing their ten-day stay and, as guests of Holland, were generously provided with food, shelter and cake and coffee in her lovely garden, surrounded by groves of trees. Here, they heard their first first-hand account of the occupation of Holland, 'which took place from 1940 to 1945, and tales of food shor- tages, forced labour and loss of property. The war came very close to Maryke. Her husband, a teacher and a member of the resistance, had been shot and flung into an open grave with 15 of his coun- trymen°a scant three days before the th nwrSrAped000ron Highlanders 17. and ed he 1IiE 1411K QN` EXPOSf 'oR; JtJNE 6, 1990- b4 nebaek and , d ,tom, in crisp k ngl_islr "For you HoBl ..the war is over.' t° " The t ryas there." remcouldn't elMr "blft;we get to it." the rap arch Peter - '(Arad, 100011,1eRiektuaielial It on.t it heg{file l 80 miles. 401417 222 reads 52 kilometres, January 28 ,a relatively easy 25 itileMetres. Jurat getting to the camp • the.Geriwany.Pol.and border aUat lve— was�'`a `feat Many didn't. When Peter Malcolm was edp in at ain June �elati ely 'slight pounds. By the time he reached Stang 813, he was 87 pounds. "We weren't on a diet., -we just couldn't get it," he shrugs, recall- ing the food rations of the P.O.W. camp. Soup was• ladled out once a day, and a loaf of bread was broken between eight men flow l��ow • pilgrimage vice of all of the victims of World a War II at the Grote Kerk. Here, hundreds of people heard the 1 Burgomaster A.J. Hubers speak. "When we speak in • gratitude of our freedom, the question poses itself: what have we done With this freedom?" he addressed the crowd.. "Has a better world come, less warlike, a world without suppres- sion, without social and economic misery, a righteous world?" "Fortunately, there are many positive forces at work. Those who fell for our freedom kept their ideals," the Burgomaster reminded the veterans. "Let us never forget that." . ur lv "You bad, to eat all of your ra tions when . you got them, and maybe d on a good 'old Ger- ;(guard) to give ,,yo it d- Wiich, Mr. Malcolm explains %If you put it under° yow billow,. the mice ate it " • -Being, fit, he was sent down oto work in the mines at.the Cal MatlYof which had begn'sh after the First World War and• reopened at the camps , "In the des if MAO to -go tog, the bathroom, the guard wood go`: right along' with You, Mr. Ma - ehut kle9, recalling' the irorty,'.'" stand there with you bayoneta" _ It's heroic ,thing, to . find. humour in the five years of horror. For many, it was too much to hear - emotionally, and physically the tragedy lies in the fact . - many may`` never know.h2w.th loved ones perished in,'the cam and ' forced marches, Pete Malcolm knows this for a fact. lot of man died f dyssentry of th forced 'marches, and the march January 1945 from the camp froht .of, the fleeing Germans w especially brutal. It went on th camps daily, as well. "We had a lot of boys; th parents were told that they died action," Mr. Malcolm says quietly that air Rs A, e in m as e air in 'They didn't died in action...they died off starvation." "You never heard , any more bout them." Peter Malcolm was one of the ucky ones, one of the strong ones. General Patton caught up with him and the rest of the prisoners during a forced march towards the Bulgarian mountains in January 1945. After five years of unimaginable hell, liberty. Mr. Malcolm returned to Scotland to re- join his family, miraculously reunited after the war. All six of the Malcolm brothers made it home alive. A renowned piper with the Seaforth Legion, Peter Malcolm came`to Canada in 1953 to make it his home. Dunkirk and his five years in the Prisoner of War camp are far from him now, but in many ways they are very close. Sometimes too close. But they are a part of him, "I could write a book." transportation. The Bell's were billeted in Apeldoorn, while others stayed in Nijmegan, Gronigen, Drachten, Aalton, Barneweld and Egmond: No matter where they ended up, each Canadian had many stories to tell of the warm welcome accorded to them by the people of Holland. Everywhere, the streets were decorated for the occasion and Mother Nature co-operated by pro- viding ten days off sunny summer weather. Although the unusually hot weather had faded the famous tulips, the yards were ablaze with flowers and flowering shrubs of all kinds and the window sills of the homes were massed with blooms. Maryke Mulder, the Bell's three sons had been hiding in the cellar for those three days, still unaware that her husband was dead. For Maryke, the skirl of the pipes and the joyous welcome of the Canadians was marred by grief. One of the Canadian couples was billeted with a young man who belonged to an organization of 2000 Canadian Liberation children, the offspring of Canadians who were left behind with their Dutch mothers. A number of events stand out for the Bell's from among the countless memories of these ten days. One of these was a Commemoration ser - After the speech, a huge massed choir sang "Land of Hope and Glory", "Glory Hallelujah" and "Sleep, comrades, sleep". At the end of the services, everyone filed out of the church in a silent march. Others joined the, assembly outside and the entire group walked silent- ly down the street to the monument in Oranjepark. It was a moving ex- perience, being in the midst of that act of remembrance. The National Commemoration March of the Liberators took place on May 6 in Apeldoorn, when all the Canadian veterans were brought by bus from all over Holland. Early in the afternoon, the parade left the Het Lo Palace ac- companied by nine bands and about ALL ON PAPER, ALL IN HIS MEMORIES - Peter Malcolm of Seaforth takes a trip down memory lane with a glance through his scrapbook. Another smaller book, kept from his capture at Dunkirk 60 years ago, lists the miles that he walked to the prisoner of war camp. Elliott photo. 211 historic World War 11 vehicles, many • of them carrying Canadian veterans. The parade, which lasted two and a ? half hours, had an :estimated 3000 participants. The Jsuu was blazing hot, but that mar- chers - decked out in their medals and berets r ,iijjil let' g'`enl to;,r}otice, "`for all along' the route there were over 350,000 people cheering, rushing out with flowers and hugs and handshakes. What a moving welcome for the Canadian veterans! During the course of the parade, there was a ceremoni Fly. Past of the historic World War III aircraft and Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands - Who was • born in Canada - took the salute from the veterans. It was an experience that the Bell's will not soon forget, and Neil Bell proudly marched with the 3000, wearing his green beret of the 4th Division. At the Canadian Military Cemetery in Groesbeek on May 7, the Roy:: Salute taken by Princess Margriet was colorfully and im• - pressively introduced by the Cana- dian Honor Guard of Lahr and, the, Royal Netherlands Armed Forces Royal Guard. The Canadians were proud of the way that Honorable Gerald Mer- rithew, Minister of Veteran Affairs, spoke to the assembly of the 2300 comrade servicemen who were buried there. To-` the strains of "Amazing Grace", and the haunting sounds of the Last Post, Reveille and the Lamen, the laying of the wreaths was carried out by units from all across Canada along with am- bassadors of many other countries. It was indeed a' day to remember .and the Bell's, along with their companions, took in the ceremony from amidst the greenery and the splashes of color from the flowers, backed by the white of the crosses and the memorial across of the Sacrifice. Edna Bell could hardly see through her teats. Neil Bell made a special pilgrimage back to Borculo, where he was billeted with the Ten Bras family at 23 Bargenweg from May to November of 1945. When the cou- ple arrived by bus, they found the street number - but it was now oc- cupied by a row of neW houses. Undeterred by this, the Bell's tried to obtain information from a man who was unloading his car. He went to get his wife, who spoke English, who in turn fetched an old neighbour. "The house is just down the street," the neighbour told them in Dutch. "Only the street name is changed." Sure enough, there was the far- mhouse and inside was Theo - now 67 - who had been 22 years old in 1945. Here was the old time that the couple saw klompens (wooden shoes) parked by the door. Theo's wife served coffee and cookies in the flower -decked living room hi her bare feet. Their interpreter stayed with the Bell's to help renew old memories, like recalling the cache of grain that had been stored upstairs in the farmhouse in 1945 to keep it out of the hands of the in- vaders. It was a wonderful day. When Edna Bell left Holland with her husband on May 10, she felt that she had had a glimpse into the horrors of occupation and depriva- tion suffered by the people of the Netherlands. She was reminded of a poem, written by Dutchman J.E. Bloom in 1945, and the meaning became clearer: Spring, as then, is clear and radiant; Cold in the morning, but when the days lengthen the eternal air is a wonder to those saved. - In the transparent haze above all the fallow land, the sluggish horses plough again as always, while the near- by distances still rumble with war. To have lived through this, to be able to pronounce this, alive and well, at each awakening again to know; gone is and now forever, the almost unbelievable servitude. Worth it is to have languished five years, sometimes rebellious, sometimes resigned; and not one of those unborn will ever comprehend that freedom. fi �, w-� `�sya� ,IOW, !" y? iii s3 �tat•x?x?a c�, �b „ Antler AY WORK bleat tri berry, a ,outside artist who new livor in Toronto, was in Seaforth June 1 pain: ting a picture of the brietltiil poppies outside Nor.,thsito,United phurch,'aha wjll bo paintmg'°plCtuYek' 01;the Huron bounty couatrysido for the*with of Jut*. t itiiird- dilate. • ,Wed., June 6 1:30-4:00 p.m. — Senior Shuffleboard at the Arena 3:30.5:00 p.m. — Skateboarding at the Arena 7:00-8:00 p.m. — Fitness Is Fun at Arena 7:00-10:00 p.m. — Fundraleing Workshop at Arena Thurs., June 7 8:30-9:30 a.m. — Fitness Is Fun at SDCC 12:00 — Seaforth Happy Citizens meet at the Legion. Potluck dinner and bring your own dishes. 7:00 p.m. — Soccer - St. Columban 1 Squirt ve. Exeter 4 et Dublin 8:00-10:00 p.m. — Men's Ball Hockey at SDCC 8:00 p.m. — Hoge vs. Topnotch 9:00 p.m. — Doileremlth ve. Beachwood Sat. , June 9 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. — Swimming Lesson Registration et Lions Park — Firemen's Two Bell Foursome at Golf Course Mon., June 11 7:00 p.m. — St. Columban Atom Soccer vs. Arve at the Dublin Field — Horticultural Society's Monthly Meeting and Mystery Tour Tues., June 12 8:30-9:30 a.m. — Fitness Is Fun at SDCC 11:15 a.m. — Seaforth Women's Institute will meet at Kay O'Rourke's, go to Golden Lantern Restaurant, Brussels for dinner, then on to Wroxeter to tour the Gingerbread Doll Museum. 6:30 p.m. — Hospital Auxiliary June dinner at Seaforth Legion 7:00 p.m. — Soccer - St. Columba, Pee Wee 2 vs. Nairn at St. Columban Field Wed^ , June 13 5:15 p.m. — Seaforth Horticultural Society meeting - meet at Seaforth Public School for mystery tour and dinner 1:30-4:00 p.m. — Shuffleboard at SDCC 3:30-4:00 p.m. -- Skateboarding at the Arena 7:00.9:00 p.m. — Snoopyschoo,- Playechool•Playground Registration at the Arena 8:00-9:00 p.m. — Fitness Is Fun at Arena b 1