Netherlands 80th Liberation Day 

There was a special addition on this trip as Don’s daughter, Linda Baker, was coming along for the first time! 

Dean picked us up from Don’s Sea view flat at Frinton Lodge and we headed to The Bell pub in Thorpe Le Soken for a bit of dinner. Don went for his usual ham, eggs and chips. He cleared the plate, which you would think would be an unusual feat for an almost 100-year-old man, however not so unusual for Don who loves his food. 

From there, it was onto Harwich to catch the all familiar ferry to the Hook of Holland. It was great to link up once more with the Taxi Charity family who had come along in 19 or so London Taxi’s!  

Both Geoff Roberts daughters were on the trip on this occasion and mentioned that when Geoff had seen Don with his daughter he said “oh that’s a shame, I was hoping to see the young lad who cares for him!”. Fortunately I was able to surprise Geoff the following morning at breakfast. 

It is custom to have a few drinks on the outbound ferry, which inevitably turned into a 1:30am bedtime!  

After just short of 4 hours sleep, I got myself and then Don ready for the day and heading up to the 9^th deck for breakfast before loading up and disembarking. 

Our first stop was Bronbeek, which is a former royal palace in Arnhem, Netherlands. It is now a museum and a home for elderly soldiers. 

We were fortunate to have a cup of tea and a biscuit with a 99-year-old Dutch veteran, who had gone through the entire Nazi occupation then was conscripted and sent to Indonesia for 3 years! 

Connected to Bronbeek is an Indonesian restaurant which served up a brilliant buffet of traditional Indonesian food.  

I was also able to catch up with Les Hammond, a WW2 veteran who was in my great grandfathers Sgt James Dargies regiment, The 86th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery (TA) was a British Army unit formed in November 1941 from the 5th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment. It served in the UK and went to Normandy in June 1944 as part of the forces invading Europe during World War II. He attended the trip with his son Geoff and daughter in law Georgina. This was his first trip away since he was admitted to a care home after a fall last year. He grew more alive as the trip went on and it was a truly inspiring thing to witness. 

From there it was onwards to the hotel to get the Taxi Charity entourage all checked in. 

This was the day of the Liberation parade round Wageningen. Don was allocated to a London cab with his daughter Linda and a few others whereas I was placed on a buggy with Canadian veterans! 

The Veterans Affairs Canada had flown 20+ WW2 veterans to the Netherlands for the parade. I was fortunate enough to be in a buggy with 100-year-old Bill Wilson who had been on HMCS Ottowa during the War, he also mentioned that his dad was from Govan in Glasgow and ran a Grocery store, a strange coincidence! There was 99-year-old Ernie, who had been a paratrooper during the war and then John Peerce a 98-year-old Army veteran who was injured in the Netherlands. All were amazing gentleman to speak to, I have now been fortunate enough to meet many WW2 veterans from the UK, USA, Canada, Holland, Poland, the list goes on! 

I may have got slightly overexcited during the parade and went as what I can only describe as ‘full Canadian’ for the hour! I was energetically waving the flag from the front of the Buggy and shouting out “Canada” whenever I saw those dressed up in red & white.  

Apparently, my face appeared on a repeat segment on Dutch & Canadian TV, with one presenter commenting that “the lad in the front doesn’t appear to fall into the 96-to-105-year-old age category”.  

It came up in conversation with Peter Carey, one of the taxi drivers, about my time as a reservist in the Royal Navy. He asked why I never wear my beret, which I responded that I didn’t feel I perhaps deserved to as I hadn’t really experienced much during my time. Both him and Chris Langford (Afghanistan Veteran) explained that it doesn’t matter whether I was in it for 5 minutes or 22 years, I still threw my name in the hat and should be proud to wear it. I shall wear it the future parades!  

We headed back to the hotel where a lunch was held with the Canadian veterans and supporting team! 

There was also a pipe band present which I took Don out to. They had finished playing and were taking photos with Jack Rossetier, a Canadian Seaforth Highlander veteran, however they agreed to play a rendition of Highland Cathedral. It was an extremely emotional moment to witness. 

I was fortunate to meet Merchant Navy veteran Ronald Butcher and his daughter Christine whilst away. She had surprised him with the trip which he didn’t know anything about. This had been his first time on a trip since the 60^th D Day anniversary and took some time to open up. By the end of the trip there had been a wonderful transformation within him. He was talking to all those who paid some interest in him and even sang with the other veterans on the Ferry! It was an amazing thing to witness and an example of the impact the trips with the Taxi Charity has on to these veterans.  

Ronald asked if I was “courting” and I showed him a photo!  

And just like that another trip was over and we were back on the ferry from the hook of Holland to Harwich! 

Unfortunately Don didn’t get an invite to Westminster for the VE Day events in the end therefore I headed ‘back up the road’ and saved a volunteer day for D Day 81! 

On reflection this was probably a blessing in disguise as the weeks events had been full on for all involved, and another veteran John King had unfortunately had a brief hospital visit due to exhaustion after attending a VE Day event.