Youths cycling the Dutch resistance route
Hello Peterborough! We’re on the third and final Frank Graham Cycle Tour (FGCLT). This cycle/bus tour is meant to help the 40 Canadian and Dutch youths understand and gain an appreciation of the Dutch resistance during the Second World War.
You will remember out first tour in 2013 took on the route of the Liberators from Juno Beach, Normandy France. In 2015 the FGCLT cycled to places such as Auschwitz, Berlin, Bergen-Belsen and Westerbork, seeing firsthand the death camps, the Berlin Wall and transfer camps where undesirables – Jews, gypsys and homosexuals were detained until there was space to be sent to the work camps.
With FGCLT 2017 we have come full circle and are to learn how the Dutch fought back, where and when they were trained and how they got away from the Nazis and came back as saboteurs and spies. We will also visit cemeteries and town halls to lay wreaths and plant the Frank Graham tulips.
We arrived in Amsterdam on Monday the 17th to a welcome of smiles and tears and for some of us, astonishment that the tour was actually starting. We were bussed to Markelo and our hosts families took us home to refresh and have dinner; an early night to deal with the jet lag. Tuesday the cyclists and chaperones received the itinerary for the tour. We watched a collage of the last two trips. It included video of veteran Loch Laurie who passed away last year. He was an actual liberator of Markelo. They played an audio of my father explaining his reasons for being in the war. There was not a dry eye in the room. I already had a lump in my throat and hearing my father, who couldn’t come because of health issues, I too weld up.
The Dutch organizers surprised us with orange jackets. We would wear them when we cycled to increase our visibility – for safety and to create an impression on those who watched us cycle by. We were fitted for our bikes and then they were loaded onto the trailer the bus would pull.
That evening was our formal welcome to Markelo and the tour. GertJan (G-J) Oplaat, tour committee chair told us about some resistance fighters who broke into the Nazi offices in Markelo, stole the safe key, made a duplicate and then stole the contents; Identity card blanks and food stamps. A drone delivered the key to G-J. The key is our symbol for the tour and we’re all wearing one. The tour would begin Wednesday morning at 5:30 AM.
We travelled to Noordwijk, a small town near the North Sea. We off loaded the bikes and we rode several kilometers into town. The mayor welcomed us and escorted us to the cemetery for our first wreath laying and tulip bulb planting ceremony. We are planting Frank Graham tulips at all our stops. In future years anyone will be able to follow our tour just by finding the red tulips! We learned of seven commonwealth airmen buried there; one was James Franklin Karl Crow, 349 Reid St., Peterborough. His plane crashed on the day after his 24th birthday. The historian said that James was a car mechanic when he enlisted in 1940 and an accomplished marksman so he was given a job as a gunner. He travelled to England in November 1942. He began flying missions in April 1943 and flew successfully for two months. The records show his last mission began just before midnight on June 25th. They used a Halifax type bomber, flying from RAF Base Melbourne near Hull, England on a mission to bomb Mullheim, Germany. The plane disappeared on the return flight. Four British and three Canadian crew members were lost in the North Sea. James’ body was found 8th July 1943. I will look for family members when I return in May and pass on the pictures taken in Noordwijk cemetery. (Many thanks to Mark Sijlmans, an historian, and Susan Touw a tour cyclist and my translator.)
After Noordwijk we cycled to two museums; one in a German bunker, Atlantikwall, and another, a short distance away, called Engelandvaarders. Atlantikwall was a warren of bunkers about 4 kilometers long by one kilometer wide buried in the dunes. Much of it was closed because of bats. They are endangered and so parts of the museum are closed until after mating season. We did get a feeling of how the occupiers lived and worked. Engelandvaarders was built by a survivor of the voyage across the North Sea in appreciation and respect for those who did not come home. Photos and story boards told us about the many journeys.
Back on our bikes and a short ride to the Canadian Embassy. We met Canadian ambassador, Sabine Nölke. We were given a warm welcome and then she was gone to a dental appointment. During lunch I spoke with two of the servers, both having more than 25 years of service at the embassy. Like any other line of work there have been good years and some not so good. Following our wreath and tulip ceremony we returned to our bikes and rode past a row of windmills called the Kinderdijk. On to our hostel, Klaverweide for room assignments and a scrumptious meal made by our travelling cooking crew.
I have reinstituted a 2013 initiative. Everyone on the tour will be sending my parents a post card. I ask five people each day and they are all eager participate.
Tot ziens