Canada Knows Who Our Friends Are
A Story of the Scheldt and the Netherlands
"We went to Afghanistan because you were attacked. We didn't ask for your thanks. Neither did 158 of us who died for you." - social media message from Canadian vets to Donald Trump
J.D. Vance says he is tired of Canada's "sob story" about being good allies of America.
The comment shows that Vance is not only a low-class twerp but that he's stupid. If there is one thing to know about Canada, we don't do "sob stories" when considering the price paid for democracy or freedom. It's not in our DNA.
We do what needs to be done. We do it without the flag-waving or the chest-thumping. And then we get on with our lives.
Let me tell you about the Scheldt - a battle you've probably never heard of, even though it was significant in winning the war against fascism.
The Scheldt is a flat and water-logged estuary on the Belgian coast. In the fall of 1944, the entire Allied war was held up by the inability to get supplies up the line. The all-important port at Antwerp was closed because of the huge number of fascist soldiers holding the ground along the winding waterways of the Scheldt.
Without supplies from Antwerp, the war would drag on with an ever-staggering number of casualties. Clearing the Scheldt of Nazis was going to be a long and thankless job with no glory.
So, guess what? The Brits and Americans gave the job to Canada.
Canadians paid a heavy price every step of the way.
It began with the crossing of the Leopold Canal. That's where we lost 24-year-old Albert Joseph Coté from North Bay, Ontario. The Algonquin Regiment of Northern Ontario were the lead squad. When they crossed the canal, they were immediately cut to pieces on the flat ground by Nazi machine guns.
Finally, the Algonquins were ordered to pull back, but Coté refused. He wouldn't leave his wounded comrades. He stayed to look after them. He never came home again. He is buried at the Canadian war cemetery at Holten, Netherlands.
The next crew to try and take the ground were the "Farmer Johns" of the Regina Rifles. They had been the first Canadians to hit the beaches of Normandy and had fought relentlessly since then. I have talked with elderly Algonquin vets who remember pulling out of the canal and wishing good luck to the prairie boys who were taking their place.
One of them was 21-year-old Patrick Anthony Johnstone, who had signed up in Calgary and shipped out to Scheldt. He died at the Leopold Canal. He was my wife's uncle. He lies 17 km from Brugge at Adagem war cemetery.
This is how it went the whole length of the Scheldt.
A series of brutal battles like "Black Friday" tore apart the Canadian Black Watch regiment. But the Canadians never faltered even as General Montgomery denied them badly needed air cover.
The Scheldt was cleared just as the Allied commanders knew it would. The price was 13,000 Canadian casualties.
It was a shitty job with no thanks. Canadians didn't expect any different.
From the Scheldt, the Canadians fought steadily towards the border of the Netherlands.
The Dutch people were starving in the bitter "Hunger Winter" of 1944-45. The Canadian casualties were enormous, but for every soldier, this fight became a personal mission. They knew there were many hungry people just behind the German guns.
The Canadians weren't just focused on getting ammunition into the battle lines; they were stockpiling food supplies for the breakout.
Over 7600 Canadians died, pushing the fascist jackboot off the Dutch people. As they entered the villages and towns, they were swarmed by overjoyed civilians. It was impossible to move their tanks because the streets were clogged with celebrating people.
The Canadians who survived the campaign never got over the beautiful welcome of the Dutch people. The Canadians weren't just liberators; they became immediate family and lifelong friends.
My mother had a boss who was one of the Dutch children liberated in the "sweetest spring" of April 1945. He used to tell the story of how his family were cowering in the basement through a night of heavy bombardment.
And then suddenly, there was silence.
After a time, they heard a sound they had never heard before.
It was the sound of Canadian bagpipers marching through the early morning mist - the sound that told them they were finally free.
The original generation who came through the "sweetest spring" are now gone, yet the deep bond between the Dutch and Canada remains strong.
Every spring in Ottawa, people celebrate the "tulip festival" as flowers are shipped to Canada, just as they have been every year since the liberation.
On Christmas Eve, Dutch children go to the Canadian war cemeteries at Holten and Groesbeek to light candles and attend to the graves. Albert Coté never did get to come home to Canada, but he lies in the embrace of our adopted family and loved ones.
We also know who our friends are.
The United States were friends. They aren't anymore.
But the people of the Netherlands remain steadfast.
As does Canada. We need to remind ourselves of these stories as we watch fellow “allies” like Great Britain tiptoe away from us to please Trump.
If defending democracy and the international rule of law has become a shitty and thankless job, then give the job to Canadians. We will stand the gaff.
We will always be true, north, strong and free.
I am from Pennsylvania. We live near the Canadian border in Erie. I am 75. Have been a liberal Democrat for 55 years
My heart is broken as I remember the strong bond we had with our neighbors to the north. This friendship has been ripped away by a cruel dictator. But it’s important for you Canadians to know that most of us still love Canada.
We are sorry that the MAGA put a madman in the White House. God have mercy on our country.
From The Atlantic magazine today, by Eliot Cohen:
“There is a martial spirit up north waiting to be reawakened. Members of the Trump administration may not have heard of Vimy Ridge, Dieppe, the crossing of the Sangro, Juno Beach, or the Battle of the Scheldt. Take it from a military historian: The Canadian soldiers were formidable, as were the sailors who escorted convoys across the North Atlantic and the airmen who flew in the Battle of Britain and the air war over Germany. Canada’s 44,000 dead represented a higher percentage of the population than America’s losses in the Second World War. Those who served were almost entirely volunteers.”