Proud of our veterans
Even if you’ve never met Penticton retiree Bob Rietveld, you’ve probably seen his vehicle: A bright-yellow Hummer H2 with big decals of the Canadian and U.S. flags splashed across the side of it that is really hard to miss.
“People think I’m American,” he says with a laugh, but he’s actually a proud Canadian who was born in the Netherlands in January 1945, while the country was still occupied by the Nazis at the tail end of the Second World War.
Canadian forces led the liberation of the Netherlands, which was finally pried loose from the Nazis’ grip in April 1945.
“The Dutch people have never forgotten,” says Rietveld.
His family later immigrated to Canada and
Rietveld, while still a young man, decided he would honour the soldiers who fought for his freedom by joining the army. His father, who served in the Dutch military, wouldn’t have it.
“He went berserk,” recalls Rietveld. “He said, ‘After what I went through, you’re not joining the army.’”
Rietveld vowed instead to devote himself to serving veterans, and in 1971 joined the Royal Canadian Legion.
He eventually rose to the position of colour sergeant for the B.C. Command of the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans in Canada and is honourary president of the group’s East Vancouver chapter.
But after decades spent balancing his commitment to veterans with running a construction business in West Vancouver, Rietveld and his wife, Rose, retired to Penticton in
2016. They chose the Peach City to be closer to
Rose’s mother, Elizabeth Menges.
Rietveld considered also retiring from his veterans work, but decided against it, which is where the Hummer H2 comes in. He took the oversized SUV to a local sign shop and had the decals designed so he could enter it into parades with a veteran in the passenger seat.
One welcome bonus that comes with having such an eye-catching vehicle is it’s a sure-fire conversation starter.
“I enjoy driving it around and people stop and talk to me,” he says.
Rietveld gladly shares his message with people, particularly kids.
“I used to do a lot of speeches in school, and it’s really important (children) know about the history,” he says.
“It’s not about me. It’s always about the veterans and what they did for us.”