Canada helps find backgrounds of war heroes

Jan Braakman will travel to Canada to document the personal stories of ten fallen soldiers. Each fallen war hero is brought to life again by the force of his or her individual story.

On a table in a Canadian home there is a small box containing the best kept secret of serviceman Ernest Douglas. It has been there since the end of the Second World War. Will the secret be revealed during Braakman’s visit? We have to wait and see. Elsewhere in Canada, a ribboned booklet with comic drawings was found in the attic of an other war hero’s parental home.The soldier concerned loved drawing. Jan Braakman hopes to retrieve more gems like these during his visit to relatives of soldiers buried in Holten.

 

Renovation

The trip is part of the many preparations for the renovation of the Information Center Canadian Cemetery (ICCC) in Holten. The information center, next to the field of honor, will be extended with a multimedial room. After the completion of this renovation many more personal stories will be told here. The stories become almost palpable, says the spokesman of the ICCC, Nico Arfman. “Margriet Dekkers came up with the idea. She used to work for the Canadian embassy and knew of the existence of the comic book. She thought there might be more material in Canada. Such palpable memories would fit in wonderfully with the new experience room of the ICCC , where five silhouettes will be brought to life again holographically. So additional information is more than welcome”.

 

Snowballing

But how to find the relatives nearest to the source? The ICCC research team called in the help of Jan Braakman. He is a volunteer for the ICCC, has family living in Canada, and has written a number of books about the war. ”On a map of Canada , I have plotted the more than 1350 soldiers buried here in Holten. I sent a letter with this map to all the people I know in Canada. And that rapidly became a snowball. Radio stations broadcast the message, the Canadian paper Global& Mail published an article about it, and I was even interviewed by TV channel CBS. That was very exciting, for what would be the spin-off?

 

Keepsakes

Enough, as it appears now. Braakman is flooded with emails of surviving relatives who are eager to be interviewed, and who may also still have a memento. “We have made a selection of stories that are nearest to the truth. Sometimes we grant two interviews on one day with children, sisters, brothers, or friends. They will all be asked questions about his personality, his character, his hobbies, and what impact his death had on them. Relatives really like to talk to us. They think it is great that we , here in Holland, still pay so much attention to their fallen relatives. Back then, for them it was “a war far away”. The war was not a topic of conversation for the family members who were left behind. This project brings up matters that are in many peoples’ minds. Like the small box containing the big secret. Who knows this secret may be revealed on camera? Or somebody may read aloud, on camera, the letter that told them of the death of their father, brother or sister. Those are emotional moments that affect you; and me, too. I regard it as an honor to be in the position to do this.Those young men made the ultimate sacrifice”.

At the end of this month Braakman will travel to Canada together with cameraman Sander Jongsman. Their footage will be shown in the then renovated ICCC in Holten.

 
Original article: https://www.tubantia.nl/rijssen-holten/heel-canada-zoekt-mee-naar-achtergrond-in-holten-begraven-oorlogshelden~a69c1ad7/