Trad's April Visit

[Trad]

Thank you all for the kind words. I had such a blast meeting you guys and enjoyed every joint/bong/Vapo bag that we consummed together.

During the annual commemoration at the Canadian War Cemetery in Holten, the 48th Highlander of Holland remember all fallen Canadian soldiers, in particular the members of the Regiment 48th Highlanders of Canada (this was my fathers regiment). There are 1355 Canadians buried here in a forest near Holten, 20 are 48th Highlanders. They died in 1945 during the late part of WW11, all of the 48th died between April 12th & 16th. The commemoration this year was held on Sunday April 10th at 2:30pm.

Any of you who read the report of my visit in January 2010 already know the pride I have in my fathers regiment and their accomplishments so, when I discovered the date of this service it became a ”Must Attend” for me and the planning started in late February.
Upon checking the train schedules I find that going to Holten one is required to change trains in Apeldoorn but returning, one changes in Deventer.
This seems to offer a great opportunity to explore a couple of coffeeshops in these towns and the ACD was put to good use in picking the shops near enough to the station to make it work. Google Map finished this section of the plan with their great street view option….I did the walk from the station to all the shops, easy. Google Map was also consulted for the location of the above mentioned cemetery and it was shown to be within easy walking distance of Holten station. Day trip to Holten is done, train times all work for the coffeeshop dashes and the ceremony and the maps are waiting to be printed. Too easy, right? The morning I am to leave for Amsterdam, in fact a half hour before I get the shuttle, I start to get my maps, schedules and lists printed….two pages in and the fu*king printer shuts down. I swore at it, I turned it over and hit it, I begged it and even tried to bribe it….all to no avail and I departed for AMS without a single printed sheet. Not a good omen.
Bleak, Gapie and I are having a birthday dinner at the apartment I rented in AMS 6 days later and upon hearing of my planned trip to Holten, both express a wish to attend. This works out great for me as Bleak wants to take photos of the whole day and Gapie will be our guide and translator. Gapie decides to stay at my apartment the night before we leave, we’ll meet Bleak at the station, so as to get an early start on a very busy day and brings his lap top and printed a Google map of the Holten station area. This Google Map showed the location of the cemetery. We used the lap top to check the coffeeshop locations on ACD and felt confident that we could locate them all without maps…at least Gapie did.
We awaken a good hour before we have to catch the bus to the station and proceed to get our morning buzz…numerous joints and a pot or two of coffee, with Bailey’s of course. We meet Bleak, get the tickets and, I believe, find time for a puff.
Apeldoorn.
't Bunkertje is our first stop as it is so near the station and we are gagging for a toke by this time. A converted WW11 German bunker painted bright green, nice little shop but had a loud group of young men there that morning which had us moving on fairly quickly…in fact I believe we finished our joints outside. I got 2 gr. of Buddha Cheese, it has a star next to it in my notes so must have been good.
De Bazar is next on the list and Gapie leads us right to it, even with me insisting we are going the wrong way. This is a large coffeeshop with windows front and back, clean, bright, and modern with a staff of friendly, hot young ladies. There were four computers available in this shop. I purchased 2 gr. of orange something that didn’t warrant a star.
De Waterpijp was the last and once again, Gapie had us there in not time with some great sites along the way. Another big shop, by Amsterdam standards it is huge, with a large smoking area, four computers and very friendly, helpful staff. I purchased 1 gr. of Black Widow and it has a star in my notes.
All of the shops had good coffee and the prices were 2/4 euros cheaper for the weed than in Centrum. Gapie thought the quality was not up to Amsterdam’s, I found no difference.
Now we stroll back to the station and board the train for Holten and what I believe is going to be a very moving ceremony.
Holten is reached after a short train ride and we exit the station armed with our Google Map and run into problems as we step off the platform. What appears to be a road on the map is nothing more than a rut worn in the earth by the passage of many feet so, thinking this can’t be the street we seek we walk further. Now standing in a field we have the choice of three dirt roads to follow….Gapie is starting to grow very quiet by this point, which is way out of character for him. We pick the right path and are soon back on the paved streets of Holten, much to Gapie’s delight…seems the boy doesn’t like being out of the city. After a good 20 odd minutes walking we arrive at the Google Map location only to find that it is a local cemetery that is marked and not the one we seek. We happen upon a local man loading items into his car and enquire as to the location of the Canadian War Cemetery, with much gesticulation directions are given and we again set off walking. As we pass near the station again and are about to make the last turn towards the cemetery, up pulls the local in his car and tells us to jump in. We are then driven for about 15 minutes deep into the surrounding forest, down more dirt roads to a spot we never would have found had it not been for this kind man. I dreaded the thought of the long walk back to the station but was pleased that we had made it.
At the entrance to the cemetery there are two 1945 Canadian Army vehicles, a jeep painted with 48th Highlander insignia and a huge 6x6 truck. Nice display. After the laying of wreaths upon the graves of the fallen 48th and speeches by local dignitaries, I stood there amongst the thousand odd graves; all marked with the Canadian Maple Leaf, listening to the lone bugler at the far end of the cemetery play Taps and wept, without shame. As I had suspected the service was dignified and heart felt by all involved. Ceremony completed, now the plan was a quick introduction of myself to the pipe major and we would start the trek down the hill to the station. It seems that the pipe major had met my dad some years earlier when he visited for a reunion. He thanks us for coming and then starts to introduce me to the people around him…I was thanked for what my father had done by no less than the Mayors of Apeldoorn and Holten and all of the pipe and drum band. When the pipe major asked how we had gotten to the cemetery and I had explained, he told us that we could ride down the hill with the band in the 6x6 truck if we wished. We jumped at the offer.
Picture this…we are riding in a 1945 army truck loaded with 48th, over ground fought for by Canadians. The bugler is playing and the whole band are singing along….utterly mind blowing. The truck stops but, not at the station as expected. We unload in the parking lot of a large local restaurant and are soon herded inside by Arthur, the young man the pipe major assigned to look after us. We have been invited to share coffee and cakes with all the dignitaries that attended the service and the full pipe and drum band. What an honour. I was humbled by the gratitude that this group expressed to my father through me.
Our man Arthur was soon rounding us up, along with the band, and getting us loaded on the truck for the drive to the station. You should have seen the faces of the locals as our little convoy stopped in front of the station and out we climbed….priceless. Amid much waving and ‘Dank ye wells’ (sp) from both sides we watched our transport depart. What an amazing bunch of people we met that day.
We had a bit of time before our train arrived so we quickly rolled and smoked a few joints on the platform and prepared for our assault on Deventer.

This has gotten very long and I shall have to give you the Deventer section tomorrow. I hope I can get the pictures that Bleak took included in the next post.

[TwoCanucks]

Just a fantastic read and so glad you shared these details. Your story made me proud to be Canadian and I shed a tear while reading it. Thank you for your father's contributions, and the men he bravely stood shoulder to shoulder with. And thank you again for sharing this, just wonderful!

[StonedSince67]

During the annual commemoration at the Canadian War Cemetery in Holten, the 48th Highlander of Holland remember all fallen Canadian soldiers, in particular the members of the Regiment 48th Highlanders of Canada (this was my fathers regiment). There are 1355 Canadians buried here in a forest near Holten, 20 are 48th Highlanders. They died in 1945 during the late part of WW11, all of the 48th died between April 12th & 16th. The commemoration this year was held on Sunday April 10th at 2:30pm.

What an amazing bunch of people we met that day.

thanks for this moving story trad ... your journey was a nice tribute to your dad

[gapie]

it was a nice day that day we were at 3 places apeldoorn, holten and deventer
and i was never been there before
We All Gonna Love Da Canadians / Canucks lol

[cattales1960]

Wow what a powerful and moving story. Thanks for sharing and I can not wait to see bleaks pics.

[Cisco]

Do you have any more info on the 48th please ? Regimental badge etc I may have a plan

[Trad]

Thanks everyone, glad you are all enjoying it.

Do you have any more info on the 48th please ? Regimental badge etc I may have a plan

Here is a link to the 48th Highlanders of Canada.... http://www.48highlanders.com/
Here is a link to the 48th Highlanders of Holland.... http://www.48th-highlanders.nl/indexeng.html
And here is a Wikipedia link.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/48th_Highl ... s_.2849.29

Hope these help.

[Cisco]

Thank you Sir , and great to meet you I hope you have seen my many praises for you concerning the PB ? If not I would like to thank you again you went above and beyond the call of duty did you enjoy yer shortbread ? Hope to catch you again sometime

[Trad]

It was great to meet you to Cisco....I had a fucking blast with you guys.
The shortbread was amazing...I saved them until I got home and enjoyed them with a large cuppa, Tetley of course, and a big joint.
Thanks for making my visit such a great time and I'll see you next April if all goes to plan.
Did the links give you the info you were seeking?

[Cisco]

The best way to enjoy shortbread with a cup of rosy and a spliff very interesting read from they links , they are linked with the Gordon Highlanders , now The Royal Regiment of Scotland ! Do you happen to have any photos etc or know of any in the Netherlands etc showing any vehicles etc I know they are Infantry but surely infantry must use vehicles ? Jeeps maybe ? not the mechanised infantry of today anyway

[Trad]

Here is a link to the pics that Bleak took.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3144742/holten_trip.zip
They are in no order and have no captions. The Holten ones start near the bottom of the page.

[cattales1960]

Here is a link to the pics that Bleak took.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3144742/holten_trip.zip
They are in no order and have no captions. The Holten ones start near the bottom of the page.

for some reason it wont open for me.. Is anyone else having this problem?

[Trad]

Yeah, me to. Worked earlier. I'll try again.

[Trad]

Sorry, I'm not real good at this computer stuff......
Try this link.... C:\Documents and Settings\Trevor\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\GN9H0RIP\holten_trip[1].zip

Looks like you will have to cut&paste....sorry.

[Boner]

The original link worked fine for me, you'll be better or saving the file than trying to just open it, lots of pictures.