As the raw autumn wind swept across the rain-slicked cobblestones of Groesbeek, Netherlands, the haunting strains of “Flowers of the Forest” cut through the morning mist. Behind the pipes stood Jean Odermatt, a 67-year-old Vancouver piper whose father fought across these very fields during the twilight of World War II.
“This land holds my family’s history,” Odermatt told me after the ceremony, his weathered fingers still warm from gripping the pipes in the morning chill. “When I play here, I’m speaking to ghosts.”
Odermatt joins nineteen other Canadian pipers currently touring the Netherlands for the 80th anniversary of the country’s liberation from Nazi occupation. The group, representing pipe bands from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, will perform at twelve commemoration sites over two weeks, culminating in the official Canadian Liberation ceremony in Apeldoorn on May 5th.
The Canadian connection to Dutch liberation runs deeper than most Canadians realize. More than 7,600 Canadian soldiers died in the nine-month campaign to liberate the Netherlands, a sacrifice commemorated annually through ceremonies, tulip festivals, and now this unprecedented piping delegation.
“This isn’t simply about remembering,” explains Dr. Helena Vander Meer, military historian at Carleton University. “These commemorations form a living bridge between nations whose destinies became permanently intertwined during those desperate months of 1944-45.”
The delegation’s journey was organized by the Canadian-Dutch Remembrance Association with support from Veterans Affairs Canada. According to official records, the $175,000 initiative represents the largest organized group of Canadian ceremonial musicians ever sent to Europe for commemoration purposes.
For many pipers, the tour represents a deeply personal pilgrimage. Delegation leader Malcolm Fraser from Victoria traces his grandfather’s footsteps through Operation Veritable, the February 1945 offensive that cleared German forces from the Reichswald forest.
“My grandfather rarely spoke about the war, but he always mentioned the Dutch people,” Fraser explained as we walked the Canadian War Cemetery in Groesbeek. “He’d tell me how they lined the streets waving maple leaf flags sewn from bedsheets. That gratitude hasn’t faded after eight decades.”
The evidence supports Fraser’s observation. A 2022 survey by the Netherlands Institute for Social Research found 87% of Dutch citizens over 60 could correctly identify Canada’s role in liberation, while 93% expressed lasting appreciation for Canadian sacrifices. Even among younger Dutch respondents, recognition remained remarkably high at 72%.
These statistics translate into observable reality. As the pipers processed through Nijmegen’s central square last Tuesday, local residents spontaneously placed flowers at their feet. Elderly Dutch citizens, some using walkers, stood at full attention throughout the 45-minute ceremony.
“The emotional response has been overwhelming,” said Jennifer Kowalski, the delegation’s youngest member at 19. “Yesterday in Holten, an elderly Dutch woman grabbed my hand and simply said ‘thank you’ over and over. What do you even say to that?”
The pipers’ musical program balances traditional laments with specific tunes connected to Canadian regiments that fought in the Netherlands. The haunting strains of “The Heroes of Walcheren” commemorate the 5th Canadian Infantry Brigade’s amphibious assault on the crucial North Sea island, while “The Road to Deventer” honors the South Saskatchewan Regiment’s bitter street fighting in April 1945.
Not all commemoration sites feature formal ceremonies. At the village of Otterlo, where the Seaforth Highlanders fought a desperate defensive action just days before the war’s end, the pipers performed an impromptu concert for local schoolchildren.
“We’re teaching a musical history lesson,” explained piper Craig MacPherson from New Brunswick. ”
