ZEELAND, THE NETHERLANDS - All this week I will be travelling back in time - along the Liberation Route Europe, where I’ve discovered just why I’m such a proud Canadian.
The Liberation Route Europe is a Dutch initiative that was started a few years ago. It retraces the path taken by the Allies through England, France, Holland, Belgium and Germany to reach Berlin where they put an end to Hitler’s reign of terror.
This week we have been visiting areas of the Netherlands that suffered greatly during World War II but today honour and celebrate the contributions of foreigners - especially Canadians - for their efforts in releasing the Dutch from the clutches of Nazi oppression.
Our first stop yesterday was the fascinating Bevrijding Museum (Liberation Museum Zeeland) in the tiny hamlet of Coudorp. The museum is packed with over 40,000 objects collected after the Battle of the Scheldt, in which more than 5,000 Canadians lost their lives.
Often referred to as the “Forgotten Battle,” the fight to secure the Scheldt estuary and open the all important port of Antwerp to Allied supply ships took 85 days.
Allied commander Dwight D. Eisenhower was later quoted as saying: “When I saw the first ship (which just happened to be a Canadian vessel) had entered the Scheldt estuary, I knew the war would soon be over.”
Over 25,000 Canadians have visited the museum so far and more and more arrive each year.
Most of the objects in the museum have been collected and donated by one man, Kees Traas. Included in that is the prized Canadian helmet Traas was given by his father when he was just a young man.
“My father found the helmet on the battlefield and I played with it all the time when I was growing up,” says the delightful Kees. The helmet, which holds a place of honour in the museum, belonged to a member of the Calgary Highlanders.
The museum is a fascinating place and we’ll have more on the Liberation Route as we continue our journey back in time this week.
For more on the museum, go to http://www.bmzeeland.nl
For more on the Liberation Route Europe: http://www.liberationroute.com
About the Author
Marc Atchison is a veteran journalist and a seasoned traveller with more than 20 years of travel writing experience. As the former Travel Editor of the Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper, and now Editor-in-Chief and Senior Writer for TraveLife magazine (Canada) and travelife.ca, Marc has been to over 100 countries in the world. Japan is one of his favorite destinations and he's been there on numerous occasions.