National Post (National Edition)
VETERAN’S PLEA
I HELPED SAVE THE WORLD FROM THE NAZIS. NOW OUR GRANDCHILDREN FIGHT ON A NEW FRONT LINE.
It was on June 5, 1944, that I flew a glider plane carrying 22 highly trained soldiers across the English Channel. Along with five other gliders, we were the first to land in Normandy the day before D-Day. We captured Pegasus Bridge to prevent the Germans from sending reinforcements from the rear while thousands of British, Canadian and American troops stormed the beaches.
I was 21 years old and had just changed my birth name to conceal my identity. An Austrian Jew, I escaped the Nazis in November 1938, during Kristallnacht. Had it not been for a letter my brother had from a sympathetic SS officer, I was almost certainly destined for a concentration camp. Instead, I was evacuated to England, where I was adopted by a Jewish family in Manchester. Now that I had come of age, I was returning to fight for the liberation of Europe.
Months later, I would safely deliver troops to Arnhem, Holland. It was there that I was wounded, and captured as a prisoner of war. In May 1945, I was liberated, along with Holland, and as a German-speaking British officer, I was assigned to investigations for the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal. I later moved to Canada, married and started a business. It has been a rewarding life.
I visited Holland for the 70th anniversary of D-Day in 2015. It may have been my final time, as COVID-19 prevents me from returning this year for the 75th. There, I walked the same ground where I had fought 70 years earlier. Ground where 1,700 of my comrades lay at rest. As I walked among the graves, I noticed an inscription on one of the tombstones: “For your tomorrows, we gave our todays.”
When I look around the world today, I see nations becoming insular and protectionist. I see people hoarding medical supplies and food, and price gougers taking advantage. We do not get ahead as a nation or as individuals with such selfishness. I know if some of those buried soldiers could see the world today, they would ask, “What the hell have you done with the tomorrows we gave you?”
But then, I look at our first responders, doctors and nurses, like my granddaughter. Those brave women and men who, when a code sounds in a hospital, run into battle with this vicious virus every day. They are on the front lines fighting to preserve our freedom. And they do it bravely without even a guarantee of the supplies they need.
Our medical heroes also provide comfort to those that die, who are otherwise alone because of the need to isolate the infection.
During the war, so many people experienced a knock on the door, telling them they would never see their husband or son again and they never said goodbye. They never heard the sound of a knock at the door quite the same again.
I look at the truck drivers and grocery store workers and I remember that every army needs a quartermaster. They are running our supply lines. They too are putting their health and well-being in jeopardy for us. They, too, are heroes.
And I look at the many volunteers who have stepped up in communities across the country to ensure veterans, the elderly and those in need get essential resources. My niece volunteers by dropping groceries on doorsteps. Everyone has a role to play in fighting back and winning this war. Just as we did in the Second World War.
Our veterans — be they from the Second World War, peacekeeping missions, the Korean or Afghan wars — and our active service members and their families need additional support during this time. Social and mental health supports are harder to access during self-isolation, making the struggles of post-traumatic stress disorder even more challenging.
As more brave Canadians join our military to support the government’s COVID-19 efforts, there will be more military families in need. Organizations like the True Patriot Love Foundation play a vital role in fundraising to support veterans and military family organizations in difficult times like these.
There are so few of us Second World War veterans left. So, as we approach the 75th anniversary of VE-Day during these remarkably difficult times, I have a message for first responders, doctors, nurses and our military: I am handing over to you the torch of freedom. Hold it high so that others can see it. You are being called to defend our freedom against this virus. Do it with everything you have because once freedom is lost, it is nearly impossible to recover. It took us five years and millions of dead and wounded to secure your tomorrows.
If we could do that then, you can do this now.
I AM HANDING OVER TO YOU THE TORCH OF FREEDOM.
National Post
Retired Capt. Martin Maxwell is one
of the last surviving heroes of the Second World War. He is 96 years old and lives in Toronto. Take part in a virtual fireside chat on May 5 at 4 p.m. EST with Capt. Maxwell and Gen. Rick Hillier, moderated by Peter
Mansbridge, and donate what you can to Capt. Maxwell’s GoFundMe for
the True Patriot Love Foundation.