CANADIANS

[old rockape]

My father served with 418 RCAF as a navigator. The squadron moved to Volkel near Eindhoven early in 1945. He remembered how little the Dutch people had however their generosity and friendship was boundless. Much later in the early 1970s as a young Rockape I received a posting to Germany and ended up on a Bofor squadron based at RAF Laarbruch (now Niederrhein Airport). The base was located on the Dutch border and I ended up spending most of my spare time in Holland. Inevitably I met a young Dutch girl. She lived in a village not far from Overloon. The older folk rarely spoke of the war. I was introduced to the family who made me feel very welcome, a home from home. One day her mother took her aside and warned her 'English soldiers are only after one thing.'

The village was liberated by the Hereford Regiment in 1944.