The one medal that Cecil cherishes most

This week journalists Sander Jongsma 9 RTV East) and Jan Braakman( weekly Boerderij)(Farm) traveled through Canada to document stories of relatives of Canadian soldiers buried in Holten for the Information Center Canadian Cemetery . Last Thursday Jongsma and Braakman were at Jack French’s, the brother of Cecil French, who lies in Holten. Jack lives in Hamilton, Ontario.

Medals, framed pictures of young men in uniforms, flags, small boxes with insignia of German soldiers, poems, letters and photo albums, a great many photo albums; the things the brothers, sisters and children of the soldiers that are buried in Holten want us to see are numerous.

Jack French had gathered the items on the table before him when he told me about his brother Cecil last Thursday. Cecil was a sniper with the Argyll and Sunderland Highlanders of Canada. He was killed on April 14, 1945 in the Friesoythe area , probably hit by a bullet from a German sniper. He is buried in Holten (1x A 5).

Jack shows the medals that his brother had got. He holds one of them in his hand. Cecil French was a young boy who had a hard time growing up. It was his farher who gave him a hard time, giving him a beating out of the blue, Jack told us. Ï was ten years younger and I heard Cecil being beaten up, just like that. When he was 16 he was strong enough to stand up for himself. Then the beatings by his father stopped”. When Cecil was 17 he left home and joined the army .Cecil was popular with the girls. Back home in Ontario he had a girlfriend to who he was kind of engaged. He had already given her a ring. But in the course of time he realized he might not have made the right choice. Once in Europe he did not go unnoticed. He had girlfriends in England, and later, when he was stationed in Roosendaal( Noord-Brabant), a certain Jeannette Heemskerk took a fancy to him.

Photos of her are on the table.They were taken after the war, when one of Jack’s older brothers had visited Holland. He had met Jeanette. He had also come to Holten, to visit his brother’s grave. Small black and white snapshots the size of stamps are reminders of that visit. In the pictures is a barren and almost empty field of honor with metal crosses.

Then he picks up that one medal again.”This medal was given to him when he had taken part in a shooting contest in England. He had never before seen so many high-ranking officers together. And he was proud that he was one of the top five shooters of the day”.

The note that Cecil (Cece) wrote to his mother is in the small box on the table. ‘Keep this medal well”, Cecil wrote, ‘Perhaps, when the war is over, and I am back home again, I will wear it”.

Cecil did not come home.

Jack French picks up the medal and holds it in his hands.”This way I feel close to my brother, because I know that he held this medal in his hand as well”.

“This is the medal he cherished most”, says Jack. And then his voice breaks. Jack retrieves a tissue to wipe a tear from his eye. ”He cherished this one most, for this medal cost no lives”.