Before departure early afternoon from North Bay ON
Meeting new friends
Emily and Henk
Driving from North Bay Ontario to
Gimli Manitoba
1920 KM - 2 days
Stretching the legs and playing a game
Members of the Royal Canadian Legion 287
South Porcupine, Ontario
Both had uncles who liberated the Netherlands
Departure from the Moose Motel
at Smooth Rock Falls
early morning
logging
After staying overnight
in Dryden Ontario
driving to Gimli Manitoba
Setting up at the Gimli Waterfront
Gimli waterfront
left to right
Barry Martin - Gimli Tourism
Organizer of this event
Thank you for a great day in Gimli
His Worship Mr. Kevin E. Chudd
Mayor of the Rural Municipality of Gimli
Mayor Kevin Chudd aproaching the Stage Bus
to receive a Tulip Friendship Garden
in Honor of the WWII Veterans
left to right - Members of the Royal Canadian Legion
Branch 181 - Gimli
Tom Zanzow
Mr. Millard Barteaux - Sergeant at Arms
Mr. Jim Thompson
Ms. Marie Pemkowski
President of the Royal Canadian Legion branch 181
and Commanding officer of the 182 Air Cadetts
Marie Pemkowski
and Mr. Colin Reginald Heathcote.
I was with the English Royal Air Force, and
I went to the Middle East,
but that was after the Second World War.
We went to Suez in 1956. I’m not a WWII veteran, I am 68.
we were bombed quite heavily by the Luftwaffe. I was a school kid throughout
the war. I remember an uncle, and he stopped by our house.
I was a young kid at age 3. I remember him being there, he had just gotten
out of uniform and he carried a rifle. I actually remember that he left
shortly afterwards on his way to Singapore. Of course, he ended up a
guest of the Japanese Imperial Army and so on…I think he died out there.
I was a corporal with the English R.A.F. In the RAF, I was a paramedic.
Color party marching on the Colors
Mr. Joe Arnason - WWII Veteran
(and his daughters Terry and Sheila.)
Mr. Joe Arnason was lead aircrafts man with the Royal Canadian Airforce based on the west coast during the fight against the Japanese.
He designed a prototype of a boat that could be dropped from an aircraft
and would not get smashed on impact. The boat was ment to rescue downed airman
Katherine and Everett Naugler - WWII Veteran
Corporal with the Royal Canadian Dragoons - 1st division
Liberator of the Netherlands
the Audience
First President of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 182
Chairperson honors and awards
and poppy Chairperson
Arrival in Beausejour, Manitoba
Rene and Mouchette
brother and sister
very very happy to see eachother
in Beausejour
Mouchette drove all the way from California
Welcomed by the team
Tom Bowler - festival production
Ron Modjeski - director
Great Woods Music Festival
Thank you for a great day
Perry Hastings
tuning the piano
Hastings Piano Service
Mr. Leonard J. (Len) Harpman
president of the International War veterans' Alliance
WWII Veteran
Mr. Leonard Harpman,
I was with 1st Canadian
Division,
I was with the Royal Canadian Corps of Signal.
They weren’t a divisional strength, they are in every unit, and every part of the command.
I was a signalman, the
equivalent of a private.
I am of Dutch parentage, both my father and mother are from Holland,
both from Amsterdam. My grandmother was from Groningen.
She was married to my grandfather for 67 years!
My parents came over in 1908, and I was born in Canada.
I joined the army in 1941.
We went across from
Halifax, we’d call the ship the Drunken Duchess,
because it had to zigzag so much to avoid being torpedoed.
I got my training in England, I became an expert of Morse code,
and I became a signalman in the Signal Corps. I served in England,
Sicily in Italy, then the 1st Division moved into France, and into the
Black Forest in Holland, I was there.I had family still in Holland,
I found my mother’s side, not my dad’s side, my dad’s brothers
perished in the Belsen concentration camp.
So that’s my background to Holland. There was a job to do and we did it.
I had reversed to being a dispatch rider. My job was to take various
packages of mail down to headquarters, down to corps-headquarters,
down to regimental headquarters. As a dispatch rider,
I rode Harley’s in England and then BSA’s and other motorcycles
in Italy and Holland. We were considered “way back.”
Most of the time we were at least 3 miles from the front lines.
Liberator of the Netherlands
His worship Mr. Harvey J. Giesbrecht
Mayor of Beausejour
receiving a Tulip Friendship Garden
in honor of the WWII Veterans
the Audience
Mia and Morgan
feeding the hungry pianist
Ron Modjeski and his father
driving to Carman, MB
106 km
Carman, Manitoba
Fiddle Festival
Mia, Rosi, Morgan, Mouchette, Susi
Mr. Winston Simpson
Artistic Director of the Carman Fiddle Festival
Introducing the band
Mr. Winston Simpson
Mr. Les Allison from Carmen, Manitoba
WWII Veteran
a lot of guys were killed in the last war….4400 from Manitoba,
15,500 killed in the air force alone, Canadians you know?
As you know, you have a lot of them buried over there,
my wife and I have been to Holten and Groesbeek.
Everybody seems to speak English over in Holland.
I wrote a book on a couple of them., This guy was, I’m not sure,
he was with the Dutch underground, he went to Indonesia right
after the war, then he came back, then came to Canada after the war,
he spoke English, German and Dutch, I call this story
“I wore an SS-uniform,” his name was Henk Klyn-Molkamp.
His father was the chief of police in Amsterdam at the time.
He had a twin. In Amsterdam there was a Gestapo jail,
he was in there for about 6 months, he went from 220 lbs to about
l00lbs. It was no fun, and how they got out was a real story…
They had a bunch of Dutch people posing as prisoners,
and a couple of guards with Schmeizer machine-guns,
posing as German guards, and they went in there and
massacred all the guards and so on, and they all got out.
The Audience ready for the show
His worship Mr. Murray Rinn
Mayor of Carman
receiving a Tulip Friendship Garden
in honor of the WWII Veterans
Mr. Les Allison
Member of the Royal Canadian Legion - Carman MB
Branch 18
Corporal Cliff Beyers - WWII Veteran
143 Wing - Royal Canadian Air Force
Moved up from Normandy to Eindhoven
Witnessed the last attack on the Eindhoven Airport
January 1st, 1945
Liberator of the Netherlands
Sergeant John Sandulak - WWII Veteran
Tail Gunner in a Lancaster
Remembers flying over Holland and
the Dutch people would have little lights
letting them know that they recognized the Canadians
Liberator of the Netherlands
Mr. Wilfred Nelson - WWII Veteran
Signal Corps - 2nd Armoured Brigade
Came in on D-Day and went up to Nijmegen
Liberator of the Netherlands
Private Ross M. Phillips - WWII Veteran
First Royal Canadian Artillery
In Italy he went through the Hitler Line
Later joined the Royal Canadian Infantry
Stationed in Alkmaar, Holland
Liberator of the Netherlands
Mr. Ross M. Phillips and his wife Frances
Corporal Carm Colvin - WWII Veteran
3rd division - Communications
Liberator of the Netherlands
Trooper Dick Burnett - WWII Veteran
Nord StrathCorner Horse Regiment
(Tank regiment)
Radio operator
all the way from Italy to the Netherlands
Liberator of the Netherlands
Corporal Carm Colvin
and Trooper Dick Burnett
Left:
Private Clarence Woodward - WWII Veteran
Lake Superior Regiment
4th Canadian Armoured Brigade
Member of the Royal Canadian in Treeherne
Branch 120
Liberator of the Netherlands
Right:
Mr. William B. Crocker
Mr. William B. Crocker
Riffle man with the Royal Canadian Infantry
3rd Division
Went in with the reinforcements and joined
the Winnipeg Riffles
(Reichwald forrest)
Member of the Royal Canadian Legion in Rathwell
Branch 177
Mr. Loyd Cummer - WWII Veteran
Bombadier - Field Artillery
3rd Canadian Division
Landed on Juno Beach - went up to Zwolle, The Netherlands
Liberator of the Netherlands
(and his wife Edna)
Mr. Cummer would like to pay tribute to his 2 brothers:
Corporal Wilfred Cummer - Essex Scottish Regiment
Gunner Arley Cummer - 12th Field Artillery
Mr. Stanley Colpitts - WWII Veteran
Engine Fitter with the Ground crew - Royal Canadian Air Force
British 2nd Army Batalion (Reconnaisance)
Witnessed the last attack by the Germans on the Eindhoven Airport
1st of January 1945
Liberator of the Netherlands
the Audience
Mouchette Disanto van Helsdingen
with her brother after singing with the band
(same smile)
Maurice (Moe) Hogue
Cameltrain Productions
at CKUW Radio - Winnipeg
playing CD's from Munich Records
Jazz from Holland