TORONTO -- Veterans of the Second World War at Sunnybrook’s Veterans Centre were thanked with a special gift to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands on Thursday.
Anne Le Guellec, Consul-General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Toronto, gave 40 vases of Dutch tulips to residents and caregivers, each one tied with ribbon, and a card reading “75 years of freedom.”
“To bring some colour and some joy to the people who brought so much joy for us 75 years ago,” Le Guellec told CTV News Toronto.
Le Guellec and organizers presented the tulips in an atrium on the ground floor. Residents took in the event from a floor above.
“You want to be together. You want to share the freedom, the joy, you want to hug each other. Well, we can’t do that, but we have to be patient. It’s the only way,” she said.
Robert Chartre lives at the centre and took part in the liberation.
“I’m glad to be around to celebrate the anniversary, the thank you from Holland,” said 95-year-old Chartre.
The liberation of the Netherlands took nine months and cost the lives of more than 7,600 Canadians.
Up to 175,000 Canadian soldiers took part in the campaign, in which the allies pushed back against the Nazi forces town by town. Axis forces in the country finally surrendered on May 5, 1945.
The major role Canadians played in the liberation was supposed to be a big celebration this year. Finding a way to recognize it, in the time of COVID-19 required some creative thinking.
“It is important for them to know they are still thanked, still remembered,” said Jocelyn Charles, medical director of the Veterans Centre.
“This was incredibly moving, to see this kind of gesture in the middle of this pandemic was amazing.”
93-year-old Rene Cornelissen was born in Holland and served in its air force.
“These things are still in my mind and they are very much appreciated and when I see the tulips come out and because I love gardening, the tulips mean a lot to me,” he said.
“Especially the yellow ones, to me the yellow ones are a colour of peace,” said Cornelissen.
