Five Brothers and a War

Canadian Sacrifice

What still strikes at the hearts of the Dutch was that young men, and women (though not in combat) would volunteer to leave their families and their country in order to fight a faraway war to free an oppressed people. In the case of Canada, more than one million men (plus 25,000 women), from a population of 11.3 million, served in the armed forces during World War II, including more than 41 per cent of the male population between the ages of 18 and 45, virtually all of them volunteers. To put that into context, half the nation’s population was female, leaving total male population close to 5.5 million. Males under the age of 18 accounted for about 2 million, leaving 3.5 million. Those over the age of 45 totaled about 1 million, leaving 2.5 million. Forty percent of them were in the military. Of the total population, male and female, more than one million were directly involved in war industries, and an additional two million were doing full-time “essential civilian” jobs, such as farming, food processing and the like. Therefore, more than four million people were directly involved in fighting the war (from an adult working age population of about 7 million). Of course, the 4 million children required care, mostly from mothers, so 1.2 million people were occupied with parenting (the birth rate was almost 3.5 children per couple at the time). So the total potential work/fighting force at the time was fewer than 6 million, of whom 4 million were tied up with the war. The Canadian armies were mostly in Europe, and in 1945 mostly in Holland. To further understand the scope of what Canada did, one need only examine the size of the “Army” before World War II. Canada had a grand total of 4,261 soldiers, with 51,000 in reserve. It also had 3,100 in the Air Force, and 1,800 in the Navy (to man six destroyers and four minesweepers). When war was declared, each province, except Quebec, sent between 42% (Saskatchewan) and 50% (British Columbia) of its males between the ages of 18-45. Quebec got 25%, thereby dragging down the average to 41%. Considering the relationship Quebec has with France, this is interesting. As a result of the war, the Army had 708,000 personnel, the Air Force had 223,000 and the Navy had 98,000. Almost 50,000 of them died. Twice that number were wounded. The Dutch have never forgotten the role played by Allied soldiers of all nationalities. While the Canadians did most of the fighting in Holland in 1945, the British and the Americans did most in the liberation of southern Holland in September and October 1944. The Dutch have adopted cemeteries of war with an unparalleled passion. School children “adopt” a soldier who died by learning about that person, and tending his (or her) grave. As they graduate from school, a young child entering school takes over the adoption duties. Each May 4/5 graves receive flowers in honor of liberation, and each Christmas, every grave gets a candle. May 4 is Dodenherdenking (“Remembrance of the Dead”), a solemn day to honor those who were killed, where the entire nation has a day of contemplation and reflection, and then recognizes two minutes of silence at 8:00 pm. May 5 is Bevrijdingsdag (“ Liberation Day”), a happy day to remember the regaining of freedom. The Dutch are very conscious of the inexorable relationship between the two, and the linking of one day followed by the next is no accident or coincidence.

holland

Five Brothers and a War

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