Eighty years ago in March, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands returned home after ruling in exile for five years during the Second World War.
The exact destination she chose to set foot back in her home country was the village of Eede in March of 1945.
The Regina Rifle Regiment was among the Canadian units that took part in the nearby Battle of the Leopold Canal in late 1944.
The engagement, one of several leading up to the larger Battle of the Scheldt in late September, helped free the village of Eede and its surrounding area from its Nazi occupiers.
The operation was a costly one, as Eede and the nearby city of Aardenburg were damaged during the two weeks of heavy fighting.
The people of Eede haven’t forgotten Canada’s contribution to their liberation – and invited the regiment to join in a four-day celebration to re-enact the events of eight decades prior.
Current members of the Royal Regina Rifles were in the Netherlands to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Queen Wilhelmina’s return – a hope-filled occasion in the Netherlands – which officially marked the end of a brutal five-year long occupation by the forces of Nazi Germany.
“For the Rifles’ men to be there and see this ground where their predecessors fought – to see the children of the folks who were liberated and to even meet elderly people in the village who were liberated by the Regina Rifles was a proud moment,” Kelsey Lonie, a historian with the Royal Regina Rifle Regiment Trust, told CTV News.
“It makes you stand a little taller in your boots.”
To mark the occasion, members of the Rifles presented the village with a brass plaque in the shape of the regiment’s cap badge.
-With files from Gareth Dillistone.
