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"THANK YOU CANADA" - WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
DEAR CANADA
O CANADA, WE CAN'T FORGET THE BITTER TEARS THAT YOU HAVE SHED YOU FOUGHT FOR US SO WILLINGLY TO SET OUR LITTLE HOLLAND FREE SOME CAME BY BOAT, OTHERS BY PLANE SO MANY NEVER RETURNED AGAIN WE SAW THEM COMING ONE BY ONE A FATHER, BROTHER OR A SON NO ONE COULD EVER PUT IN WRITING THE STRENGTH OF THESE CANADIANS FIGHTING 57 YEARS WE HAVE BEEN FREE THANK YOU CANADA FOR LIBERTY O CANADA, WE CAN'T REPAY THE COST OF DUTCH LIBERATION DAY YOU CAME AND SAW OUR CRYING LAND AND WIPED OUR TEARS WITH YOUR OWN HAND IT WAS FOR THE DUTCH THAT YOUR LOVED ONES DIED SO MANY CROSSES LEFT BEHIND ARE ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS AND MIND WITHOUT THESE CROSSES WE'D HAVE BEEN LOST STILL DUTCH - CANADIANS COUNT THE COST TO ALL THE FAMILIES OF THIS NATION THANK YOU CANADA FOR LIBERATION O CANADA, DUTCH LIBERATION BROUGHT GREAT MOURNING TO YOUR NATION AMONGST OUR FLOWERS YOUR DEAR ONES SLEEP AND THE DUTCH WILL ALWAYS WEEP FOR ALL THE RICHES OF THIS EARTH CAN'T PAY THE COST OF OUR LIBERATION DAY CANADIAN HEARTS, SO FILLED WITH SORROW CARED FOR WINDMILL LAND'S TOMORROW WITH LOVE WERE PLANES SENT INTO THE AIR DROPPING FOOD AND CLOTHING EVERYWHERE AND FROM THE HEART, DUTCH - CANADIANS SAY THANK YOU CANADA FOR LIBERATION DAY O CANADA, YOU KNOW THEIR NAMES OF CANADIAN MEN WHO NEVER COMPLAIN THEY SAW US THROUGH IN FORTY FIVE RETURNING HOME BEING SCARRED FOR LIFE THEY FOLLOWED ORDERS TO THE END SAVED THE DUTCH AND SPARED THEIR LAND TO THEM ALL HONOUR AND ALL GLORY THEY ARE THE HEROES OF OUR LIBERATION STORY CANADIAN LOVE, SO GREAT AND DEEP THE DUTCH STILL TREASURE AND ALWAYS KEEP CANADIAN MEN, THE GREATEST IN OUR HISTORY THANK YOU CANADA FOR LIBERTY O CANADA, AFTER THE WAR YOU OPENED WIDE YOUR DOOR WITH LOVE YOU SENT US AN INVITATION COME SEE US THROUGH IMMIGRATION AND WHEN THE DUTCH PUT THEIR FEET ASHORE YOU WERE WAITING AND CARING ONCE MORE THE DAYS WENT BY AND LOVE GREW STRONG FOR WE HAD LEARNED TO SPEAK YOUR TONGUE TO LIVE WITH THOSE WE'VE LOVED SO MUCH A DREAM CAME TRUE FOR SO MANY DUTCH AND WE STILL LIKE TO SAY IN A HUMBLE WAY THANK YOU CANADA FOR LIBERATION DAY O CANADA, YOU'LL UNDERSTAND THE DUTCH-CANADIANS OF YOUR LAND NOW WE HAVE COME TO LIVE AND STAY ALL DUTCH CANADIANS WILL PRAY LORD BLESS, PROTECT US FURTHERMORE FROM ANOTHER TERRIBLE WAR SO MANY DIED AND COULD NOT SEE OUR GLORIOUS DAY OF LIBERTY IF EVER DANGER THREATENS THIS LAND MAY DUTCH SONS BE THE FIRST ON HAND THROUGH LOVE WE HAVE BECOME ONE NATION THANK YOU CANADA FOR LIBERATION 1970 Johanna Westerhof All Rights Reserved This poem of thanks to Canada and Canadians was written by Mrs. Annie Westerhof, the organist with The Salvation Army, Toronto Temple Corps. in 1970 when the Dutch were celebrating 25 years of liberation. With the minor change to the first verse it still hold true the sentiment of love and gratitude felt by the Dutch towards Canadians for their part in liberating Holland in 1945
THE CANADA NETHERLANDS FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION http://www.godutch.com/inserts/Friendship02

On this, the 55th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands, we commemorate the more than 7,600 Canadians who gave their lives for freedom. At the same time we, the people of Canada and the Netherlands, take comfort in the knowledge that out of the anguish and horror of war there developed warm and powerful bonds of friendship which still endure. The foundations of a special relationship between our countries were established during those dark years of the Second World War. When Holland was overrun by the Nazis in May 1940, Queen Wilhelmina sought refuge in England and, from there, headed her country's government-in-exile. But even Great Britain was a precarious haven, and in 1942, the Crown Princess Juliana was persuaded to leave for Canada where she made her wartime home. Here, on January 19, 1943, in a room in Ottawa's Civic Hospital specially decreed to be Dutch territory, her third daughter Margriet was born. The tiny princess captured the hearts of Canadians who claimed her as their own. When victory was secured in 1945, Princess Juliana and her family returned to their homeland where they found the people recovering from the ravages of war. They also discovered a tumultuously happy Dutch population deeply grateful to the Canadians who had recently liberated them. Sincere and profound ties of friendship and respect between Canada and the Netherlands exist to this day. The evidence may be seen in the tulips which bloom in Ottawa each spring; in the friendships made and maintained over the distance of time and miles; and in the care and attention bestowed by the Dutch people on the burial places of our war dead. Even though the cost in lives was high, Canadians are proud to have been cast in the role of liberators. And the citizens of the Netherlands have not forgotten the sacrifice. On the Memorial in the Canadian War Cemetery at Groesbeek are inscribed the following words: Pro amicis mortui amicis vivimus, We live in the hearts of friends for whom we died.
A NOTE FROM JACK VAN DER LAAN - BURLINGTON ONTARIO, CANADA.
Jack van der Laan jacobvdl@nas.net
	Fryslân have not forgotten the sacrifice. Many thanks to Canada.........