Today I can not say we had the “best day ever”, because such a title does not do today’s’ events justice. We left very early this morning and made our way to our first stop at Holten, which has a Canadian War Cemetery. The weather was cold with a small snowfall as we arrived to the cemetery. We at first walked around, each on their own. looking at the graves of our fallen countrymen. Something stood out among the students. One was the fact that most of the Canadians buried here died mere weeks before the end of the war, fighting to liberate the part of the Netherlands that we as a group had so much fun in, during the last few days. Secondly, many of the soldiers were not much older than the students and some in fact were members of the North Shore Regiment. The connection of age and location was very powerful thing our students took from the opening of the visit.
After our walk around, our Dutch friends prepared a flowered wreath with a ribbon that had inscribed on it the names of the schools involved in the exchange. A student from each school was selected to place the wreath at the memorial at the center of the cemetery. The poem of the “Lost Solider” was read aloud, followed by a moment of silence. A very small, but emotional, service was held. Although none of the students knew the soldiers personally, all understood what kind of sacrifice was made so that all of us could experience the great things that we did this past week. During our ceremony we noticed that the snow had stopped and the sun came out as we said our final goodbyes to the markers of the brave fallen.Next we took at drive further south to the town of Oosterbeek to visit the Airborne Museum. This museum was dedicated to the history of Operation Market Garden, and in particular the British Airborne Division that landed in the area in the failed attack. We had the pleasure of having an older gentleme,n who was 14 at the time of the attack, tell us in detail the history of these events. After the visit at the museum, we were led through the town and visited many significant places in the battle, including a section where innocent Dutch civilians were killed by German SS troops, simply because they were wandering around looking for food. The path we took followed many of the areas that are depicted in the movie “A Bridge Too Far”, including the scene in which the British make their escape across the Rhine with help of the Canadian Engineer Corps.
Afterwards, we made one final stop at the British War Cemetery in Arnhem. This place had all those who had died in Operation Market Garden including many Canadians in the Royal Canadian Airforce. We also had a small ceremony and wreath laying here as well to honor the sacrifice. Although both Dutch and Canadian students are very close and have a strong bond built as a result of this exchange, there is no doubting that the experience today brought both groups closer together. The traditional bond between our countries, has been the war and the artery of this connection was very much apparent as we visited these sites of remembrance.
Students now have returned with their Dutch families and have all the evening and tomorrow until 4 to hang out with their friends before it is time to say goodbye.
Mr. Savage
