By Staff
Veteran watches Dutch Highlanders remember at city hall cenotaph.
BURLINGTON, ON November 9, 2011 As the city gets ready to celebrate Remembrance Day it hosted the Dutch Highlanders who performed a remembrance service at the cenotaph and performed a short military music program in the plaza outside city hall and hoisted the colours for Burlington’s sister city, Apeldoorn, on the flag staffs..
The Dutch Highlanders are from Apeldoorn, Burlington’s partner city in Holland. That city was liberated from the German army during the Second World War by the Royal Canadian Regiment. The liberation of Apeldoorn was that Regiment’s final Second World War battle honour. The 48th Highlanders were part of that battle.
The Dutch Highlanders were on tour in Canada where they performed in Toronto and ended their visit to Canada in Burlington.
The Dutch Band was founded in The Netherlands, in 1991, as a “living memorial” honouring the liberation of the Dutch city Apeldoorn and its surroundings by Canadian forces in April 1945 in which the leading role was played by the 48th Highlanders of Canada. This was a liberation in which so many young Canadians lost their lives. The Dutch Band has dedicated itself to honouring the memory of all soldiers who perished in the struggle to rid Europe of the Nazi regime between 1939 and 1945. Their motto is “We do remember”.
