www.militarysupport.ca 157 The Dutch remember. If you visit the little town of Doetinchem in the Netherlands, a traveler will immediately notice something unusual about this otherwise usual Dutch town. In a gesture of remembrance for the Canadians who came this way many years before, the good citizens of Doetinchem changed the street names in their town to Canadian place names a couple of decades ago – Vancouverstraat, Toronotostraat and other similarly named streets are permanent and daily reminders to everyone that the Dutch remember well. About an hour’s drive north is the village of Holten and the nearby Holten Canadians War Cemetery. Set in the middle of a forest, this immaculately kept cemetery contains the 1381 burials of which 1355 are Canadian. Killed in the last months of the war, almost every unit in 1st Canadian Army is represented here – sad testimony to the bitter fighting even in the war’s final months. The people of Holten remember. Major ceremonies are held at the cemetery on our Remembrance Day in November, on Dutch Liberation Day on 4 May and perhaps most poignant of all, on Christmas Eve. It is this latter commemoration that shows how remembrance comes from the heart. Every Christmas Eve since 1991, when the tradition began, local school children come to Holten Cemetery to remember the Canadians laid to rest here in 1945. Born long after the war, these are children of Canada’s sacrifice and they are taught the meaning of remembrance. About 300 children participate in the ceremony that begins at dusk. The children go among the graves and place a lit candle at the base of each headstone. With snow on the ground and the dark surrounding forest, the cemetery is illuminated by the glow of 1381 candles. This
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