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Quispamsis veterans honoured on VE Day

Two veterans in a Quispamsis senior care home received a surprise VE Day tribute today. In Saint John, a ceremony was held at the Cenotaph.

VE Day was marked at the Cenotaph and in a senior care home in the Saint John area

CBC News ·
Two veterans of World War II, who fought in the Netherlands, were surprised with a VE Day tribute in their senior care home in Quispamsis today, while ceremonies in Saint John and around the world marked the occasion. 

It was May 5th, 1945, that Nazi forces occupying the Netherlands capitulated to Allied forces. Much of the annual Victory in Europe Day honour is bestowed upon Canadian troops instrumental in that campaign. 

A small, be-ribboned group of veterans attended a ceremony at Kings Square in Saint John to honour over 7600 Canadians who gave their lives in the liberation of the Netherlands.

Veterans Geoffrey Crowe (on left), served with the British army's 30th Armour Brigade, and Pat Honeyman (on right), was with the 2nd Independent Armoured Brigade. (Catherine Harrop/CBC)
Two veterans were presented with a liberation cake in Quispamsis.

Geoffrey Crowe was with the British Army's 30th Armour Brigade. Pat Honeyman was with Canada's 2nd Independent Armoured Brigade.

Honeyman worked as a wireless operator. His brigade had been slowly liberating parts of Holland since February. He and his fellow troops made way over the canals by driving their tanks onto rafts and pulling the rafts across. 

Pat Honeyman remembers the BBC announcing on May 4, 1945, that the Germans were going to surrender. He says he put his wireless headset in his helmet and placed it on top of the tank for the rest of his brigade could hear the news. (Submitted)
They were in Germany on May 4th, when they heard the news. He put his wireless headset into his helmet to amplify the reporter's voice.

"Everything was peaceful, so we hooked up the wireless that was in the tank, the BBC, and there we found out that Canadians and British had ceased their fighting as of 8 o'clock that night. So our war ended on the 4th of May," recalls Honeyman.

Honeyman says his brigade's reaction was subdued. 

"Pretty much quiet. Like we said, well, that's over with. There was no whooping, no hollering. I've seen all the pictures of other places, but, it was just a job done, I guess, and the feeling of relief. We were still there."

Geoffrey Crowe says his strongest memory of the Dutch was after the war. When he was posted to Holland and billeted with a local vet.

"The great thing about it was, that he was a local hero, he had hidden a downed RAF pilot for several weeks, and when we had this victory dinner that he had prepared, the tablecloth ws the map that the airman had the escape routes on," said Crowe.

Dr. Brian Garland organized a tribute to the men in their residence.  

"We don't often equate the liberation of the Netherlands. And this is where our boys fought along a long line across Europe. This is where we died, this is where we're buried, and this is why we should remember," he said. 

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