Today is the day my family remembers. Especially my parents. They were small children when WWII began in The Netherlands. And they were still children when the war finally ended. They say if it had lasted just one more week, both my parents and their families would have starved to death. The Canadian Armed Forces pushed their way through and battled the Germans and finally freed the Dutch from the Germans who were determined to take over the country. But the Canadian soldiers were more determined not to see that happen.

It took my parents 50 years to start to tell the stories of what they went through as children during the darkest days of their lives. I think of children all over the world right now, living in war torn countries and what they must be going through. And I am more proud than ever of the soldiers who volunteered to join the Armed Forces to help those children in other countries by fighting for them.

When I went to Holland in May of 2006, I had to find a way to thank the soldiers who saved my parents lives. By saving them, they saved my sisters and me. And by saving us, our children. And our children's children. Multiply that by the hundreds of thousands of Dutch who are alive today because of the valiant efforts of the Canadian troops who never gave up for us. They stayed until the bitter end through a brutally cold winter. I collected poppies from friends and co-workers. Many asked why I was taking their poppies and two women in particular made sure to do a little something extra. Lynn's uncle died in England at the hand of the Germans in WWII. She put a Legion pin on one of 25 or so poppies she had collected since she was a little girl, and gave them all to me. Sandy put a small Canadian Flag on one of a few poppies she had for me. She too lost a relative in Europe in WWII. I went to a small town called Uden and with my mother, her sister and brother in law, we placed the poppies on the graves of the Canadian soldiers who died freeing my family and the families of so many others. It was my way of saying "Thank you".

Every time I see a Canadian soldier I thank them personally. Even though most of them weren't even born yet, what they chose to do for a living is so important to me.

This is a picture I took of the cemetery in Uden.