Remembrance 2009 - The Family
Last Updated on Monday, 23 November 2009 21:49 Written by Norm Tucker Saturday, 21 November 2009 21:00
I'm a war baby, or more appropriate a product of the war - WW II. A bit scary and complicates things, especially when my brother married a German girl.
Dad served in Africa, Italy, France and Holland, and as part of the liberators of Holland and the Dutch who had been starved by the Germans, he served with the Canadian Army. He met Mum at a hospital in Leeuwarden where she was an RN. The hospital, throughout the war, had been a German military hospital.
My Mum's brother was part of the Dutch Resistance. All his life, he hated Germans and made no bones about it. He expected until his last days, that next time the Germans invaded, he would be one of the first to be killed. In his farm in Apeldoorn, he had lots of guns and he had an escape route planned.
Strange then, that my brother at age 20, would leave Canada, and live the rest of his life in Germany. He would have two German wives (divorced) and one partner until his death nearly two years ago. This Remembrance Day, his partner sent me three images of paintings done by my Mum. Her kindness offered me a delightful remembrance and brought a smile to my face.
People always make the difference in our lives - the real difference and war is not a relationship builder. People are always the first to suffer in war - dying, injured, losing jobs, insufficient food, property lost, psychological damage, family disrupted, friendships terminated.
It's time to say NO to war.
PS
Here's a photo of my Mum with one of her paintings that hang on my wall.
