Survivor gives back to veterans who freed him
To a starving, nine-year-old boy, the stranger stood at least 10 feet tall.
He spoke in a strange tongue. It certainly wasn’t Dutch, the language spoken by the boy. And the stranger’s uniform differed from that of the hated German soldiers.
Sensing the boy’s unease, this foreigner — a soldier, as so many were back then — bent down and kissed the youngster on the forehead.
“That was my liberation. The Calgary Highlanders had arrived,” recalls Alfred Balm.
Now, 75 years later, Balm is recognized as one of Calgary’s most respected philanthropists and businessmen. But, back in the first days of May 1945, he was simply a boy who hadn’t eaten in three days — prowling the streets of Amersfoort, hoping to steal food for his family.
It had been such a brutal winter for the Dutch. The Hunger Winter, it would later be called, as the occupying Germans shipped all available food out of the Netherlands. People would resort to eating tulip bulbs for sustenance, as thousands starved to death.
Few knew the entire Canadian Army — all regiments united for the first time in that brutal war — was relentlessly moving eastward, pushing the Germans back across the breadth of Holland and accomplishing something never to be forgotten — especially not by the Dutch.
“Thousands died; the rest were dirty, hungry, afraid and cold,” says Balm, of that dreadful winter.
“The trees had already been cut down to burn — though the punishment for doing it was death. So, households burned everything they could: kitchen cabinets, beds, doors and door frames; anything to create some heat.”
Food was also scarce.
“At first the soup kitchens would distribute a watery cabbage soup, but then, nothing,” he says.
Then, early one morning, German troops began fleeing eastward, back toward their own country, joined by a few, hated, Dutch collaborators.
“Their vehicles were loaded with goods we could only dream of. And then, suddenly, it was so quiet,” says Balm. “I was outside anyway. I was used to it; having to provide for the family, stealing from the Germans or collaborators in the middle of the night.
“Suddenly, there was a 10-foot soldier in front of me in battle gear that I did not know. Then he said something in a language unknown to me. He must have seen panic in the eyes of that emaciated kid, who had not eaten a scrap of food for three days. He bent down and kissed me on my forehead,” says Balm.
While some things in life are easily forgotten, others stick hard, fast and true for a lifetime such as Balm’s encounter with the Calgary Highlanders, composed of young men from the Canadian prairies, for the most part. The Highlanders were the advance regiment and, therefore, its members would forever be heroes of Amersfoort.
“I don’t know where the Dutch flags came from, but suddenly they were there and everybody was outside, singing the National Hymne and dancing, crying,” says Balm.
“They (townspeople) wanted to see the liberators, who’d just arrived in the centre of town in trucks, jeeps and Bren carriers, still ready for battle, camouflaged, but with big smiles on their faces.”
The stories are easily recalled by Balm, who can also regale a listener with many tales from the world of business. He points to the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement as a pivotal point.
When it came into effect on Jan. 1, 1994, Balm was by then running an emerging, multi-national company. The signing of the NAFTA agreement seemed to him to be an opportune time to expand across North America.
Business is business, of course, but sometimes there arise other considerations.
“Canada, and all things Canadian, would forever have my sympathy. After the NAFTA was signed, we thought it appropriate to invest within a strong economic bloc, and Canada was almost an automatic,” says Balm, who founded the Emergo Group.
And where else could he himself call home other than in the city whose sons had once seemed as giants during the liberation of the Netherlands in the Second World War.
Since then, Balm has tried to pay a little back to the country and province he so loves. His company has given about $25 million to Alberta charities alone.
There has also been a deeper bond, a personal one, with some of our citizens. It has about run its course, given the relentless passage of time. Yet, it will endure for a little while longer. About 12 years ago, Balm quietly began giving surviving veterans in the city, who had taken part in the liberation of the Netherlands, $200 each month.
“What it did above all, it gave them dignity,” he says. “They could buy a beer for a friend, buy a present for grandchildren, or just pay for some extra food or medicine.”
The 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands will be marked May 5, but Balm says he’s aware of two veterans from that day still alive in Calgary.
“There was still a significant number when we started, but, sadly, most have faded away now,” he says.
Time moves on and yes, people pass away — even those who once appeared 10 feet tall to a bedraggled young boy. But while he still draws breath, Alfred Balm will remember the moment when that strange giant bent down. And kissed him on the forehead.