May 4, 2025
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Holten Canadian War Cemetery is—for Canada—a place of deep reflection.
Here, we remember what was sacrificed to liberate the people of the Netherlands from the German stranglehold they had been forced to live under for five long and brutal years.
Our soldiers had come to Europe well-prepared for the challenge that lay ahead—expecting that their training would serve them well in the complex military operations that would be needed to defeat the enemy.
They would have formed unbreakable bonds with their fellow soldiers, and been united in their mission to restore peace and freedom to Europe.
They would have been well-briefed on what to expect—ambushes, artillery bombardments, minefields and house-to-house combat.
They would have been well-aware that these could be the last lands they would ever contest in this epic struggle of good versus evil.
It is said that the spring of 1945 was the “sweetest of all seasons” for the Dutch people and Canadian troops who lived through the Second World War.
May would mark the end of the war in Europe.
With the end of the war came relief for the liberated, but also the realization that liberation had come at a heavy, almost unthinkable cost.
Here in Holten Canadian War Cemetery, some 1,350 Canadian service members lay at rest.
The majority of them died in the last stages of the war, during the Canadian 2nd Corps’ advance into northern Germany. In this quiet, hallowed ground, their sacrifice is eternally honoured as the peace they fought for blooms in the lands they helped to liberate.
Our soldiers had come to Europe well-prepared for the challenge that lay ahead.
But what they could not have been prepared for, would be the deep gratitude the Dutch people have felt, and continue to feel, for those who helped them to be free.
And as we gather to mark this 80th anniversary, may we continue to honour their memory, and strive to uphold the values they so bravely defended.
Lest we forget.