[Mb-civic] CBC News - CANADIANS HONOURED WITH VE-DAY PARADE IN DUTCH TOWN

[CBC News Online]

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton at sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC NEWS ONLINE
at http://www.cbc.ca/news
____________________________________________________
CANADIANS HONOURED WITH VE-DAY PARADE IN DUTCH TOWN
WebPosted Sun May  8 08:37:52 2005

apeldoorn, netherlands---Thousands of Dutch citizens turned out in the
rain for a parade to mark the 60th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

Sunday's parade in Apeldoorn was organized to honour Canadian soldiers
who liberated the town as the Second World War ended in Europe. The event
is the culmination of a week of ceremonies to mark the anniversary.

Hours before the festivities began, residents set up tents and lawn
chairs to get a good view. Several children in the crowd presented the
Canadians with flowers, while others waved Canadian flags.

"It's almost like Canada Day in Holland," said Brad Brown, a sailor from
Halifax who was taking a break from duties on HMCS Montreal in Germany.
"There are Canadian flags everywhere. The people are happy. People are
wearing Canadian flag pins."

Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson watched as about 1,500 veterans travelled
along the two-and-a-half-kilometre parade route. By her side was Princess
Margriet, who was born in Ottawa in 1943 during the five years Canada
offered the Dutch royal family a safe haven.

Elsewhere in the Netherlands, U.S. President George W. Bush observed VE-
Day in Margraten, near the German and Belgian border, where 8,000
American soldiers are buried.

He said the war taught the world's tyrants a lesson: "There is no power
like the power of freedom."

Accompanied by Dutch Queen Beatrix, Bush laid a wreath at the cemetery's
marble monument as Dutch buglers played The Last Post.

About 5,500 Canadians died trying to drive German forces out of the
Netherlands in the spring of 1945.

At the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, close to the German border, there
are rows and rows of white headstones bearing the names of Canadians who
died in action.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.