Tulips to commemorate Liberation

[Kyt]

http://www.pgfreepress.com/portals-c...1081590&more=0

A reminder of Dutch liberation

Next spring, tulips will tell the tale of war and peace.

On a bright sunny morning Tuesday, thousands of tulip bulbs were planted at the city cenotaph to commemorate the anniversary of the liberation of the Dutch people from Nazi occupation and the end of war in Europe, proclaimed May 8, 1945. The solemn ceremony pleased Jerry DeWit who has lobbied for a return of the ceremony after vandals pulled up and destroyed the flowers several times.

“I wrote a letter to city council and they endorsed the planting of 5,000 tulip bulbs. We had donations from the Dutch community here that helped us reach our goal,” he said. “About 2,000 were planted at the cenotaph and the rest will go in different places around the city, like in flowerbeds off Queensway, at Rainbow Park and on Connaught Hill.”

The original tulip planting ceremony came out of a 1994 declaration and DeWit said the replanting is important for future generations.

“I’m 77 years old now and I want someone to follow me with this. I’m happy that city council has agreed to let us plant the tulips once again so they will bloom for years to come in remembrance of the war time occupation of Holland and its liberation.”

DeWit was just 15 years old when Canadian troops became heroes to the Dutch people after liberating Holland from five horrific years of German occupation. He still remembers the jubilant rejoicing in the streets in his home town of Oudewater, 50 km south of Amsterdam.

“There was just an explosion of gratitude,” he said. “Everyone was happy and smiling. They were jubilant. Many of them especially the children were riding along in the parade, sitting on army tanks with Canadian soliders. It was a sight to see.”

He hopes next spring that local residents and visitors will see another beautiful sight when hundreds upon hundreds of beautiful tulips break through the ground. DeWit said he was inspired by mass plantings of tulips on Parliament Hill.

“As a Dutchman, I wanted to do something years ago to show my appreciation so I suggested [to city council] planting tulips. You can see hundreds of tulips on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. They are symbolic.”

DeWit says his personal gratitude to the Canadian soldiers has only deepened over the years. In 1993, De Wit recalled he was planting tulips at the local cenotaph to honour over 6,000 Canadian soldiers who lost their lives freeing Holland and he found himself overcome with emotion.

“I still get choked up when I think about it,” he said.

The planting is always timed to ensure the tulips are in full bloom May 8, the date that the end of the war in Europe was proclaimed in 1945, DeWit explained. Allied troops had reached parts of Holland in the fall of 1944 but were pushed back during the Battle of the Bulge.

They returned in the spring of 1945 however parts of Holland remained under Nazi occupation until the end of the war because German forces threatened to blow up dikes and flood the country if the Allies went any further into the country.

“In May of 1940, I was almost 10 years old when the Germans invaded The Netherlands [Holland]. During school hours, German bombers often flew over our hometown on their way to bomb Rotterdam. We were very scared. In five days, Holland surrendered and we were occupied for five years. Sometimes different German troops were stationed in my hometown and they used our schools for their barracks, giving us a forced vacation,” he said.

“In May of 1945, the war in Europe ended and we were free again, liberated by the Allied Forces, most of them Canadian troops.”

At the age of 23, DeWit immigrated to Canada where now three of his four children and eight of 13 grandchildren also make their home. The Dutchman made his innermost thoughts public years ago by telling a crowd standing by the centotaph during a planting ceremony:

“Canada has been good to me, although I do admit that when visiting Holland, as I do every so often, I do feel somewhat homesick,” he said.

“I thank the veterans, the liberators who with their bravery and sacrifice freed The Netherlands. Because of their actions it is once again a prosperous country but as an immigrant, I am also thankful for the opportunity to come to Canada and live and work among Canadians.”