Canadiangirl, I would second dropzone’s suggestion. You might also want to contact the Dominion Institute, a non-profit org that is dedicated to preserving Canadian history - they might be interested in getting a copy of the tape, and may have some pointers on how to conduct an oral history interview - tips on follow-up questions, and so on.
Last spring while we were living in Belgium, we biked from Ghent to Bruges and back on the old converted tow-paths along the main canal. Approaching Bruges we came to an area which had a series of concrete bunkers built by the Germans alongside the canal-- pretty green fields and cows and concrete bunkers and in Flanders fields the poppies do indeed blow (every Canadian I know knows that poem, as do the English-speaking Flemings I knew at the university, who knew it better than I do). We came to a little town nearby called Moerbrugge, where there was a monument made of broken tank parts commemorating 53 Canadian soldiers who one day died fighting their way over the canal there. I knew that out at Ypres and such that there had been a lot of fighting, but I had no idea that it had happened to close to my temporary home. The Belgians remember.
If it’s any consolation, this American kid was taught quite extensively about the allies in WWII, even including the Russians, and this was during the Cold War. We had good history teachers in NYC and Canadians weren’t left out of history at all.
On behalf of my grandfather and all WWII veterans:
You’re welcome. 
Just thought that should be re-quoted in this thread.
- waves * Hi, gum!
Amen, brother.
I’ve just been preparing my public display for the summer, about the Canadians in Holland in 1945, and thought I would share a couple of the items:
A Dutch artist captures his feelings about the Canadians in this souvenir cartoon postcard.
The looks on the faces of these people in Utrecht, when Canadian troops liberated the city on May 7, 1945, tells the whole story.
The price paid, not forgotten: Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, 1946. Holten Canadian War Cemetery.
The underground resistance newspaper Trouw (“Truth”), printed this special edition in English, to give to the Canadian Army approaching Amsterdam. It was printed while the Germans were still in the city.
That takes balls. Had they been caught by the Germans, the entire city could have been slaughtered.
Though posters from Canada and the Netherlands would know this story, the relationship between the countries also extends to the Dutch royal family living in exile in Canada during WWII. One child of the royal family was born in Canada in 1943. At the end of the war, Queen Juliana (then Princess Juliana) gifted Canada with 100,000 tulip bulbs.
This has been a lasting and beautiful legacy in Canada with an annual tulip festival in Ottawa, the largest in the world. Here is the link with the history of the festival which is commencing tomorrow and running to May 23rd. Its theme, I note, is A Celebration of Peace of Friendship commemorating the anniversary of the end of the war and the gift.
Not exactly, as the maternity ward was specially declared the sovereign territory of the Netherlands for the occasion. 
slight hijack
I totally forgot this day was approaching. As you may remember I am a caregiver, to my 84 yr old Mother in law. She lost her brother in Belgium and her husband also was a pilot in the war.
I would love to locate more information about the service records of either of these men. In closing up her home, before bringing her to live with us, I found their war medals, tarnished and forgotten in a drawer. Also photos of the grave of her brother in Belgium. I always intended to do a little research and learn more, but, well, caregiving tends to be a 25 hr a day job, so I haven’t even begun.
Reading this makes me want to start anew. I could really use a hint on where to start. To learn about the medals, what each is, what it means. She knows so little about her brothers passing and I know she still thinks about him.
Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Just point me in the right direction, I’ll do the rest.
Apologies for the hijack, thanks for a great thread.
You can find out some details of the brother killed in Belgium here:
http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx
I find it works best if you put in the last name only, and if possible the “branch of service” (army-navy-air force) under the “force” menu, and “Canadian” (if applicable) under “nationality.”
If the brother was in the RCAF (air force), there is an excellent book called “They Shall Grow Not Old,” with ~18,000 entries of the young men (and several women) who died in the Royal Canadian Air Force in WW2. Your local library, Royal Canadian Legion, or Army Navy Air Force Vets (ANAF) should have a copy.
As for getting the actual service records, this is a bit more involved. Your mother-in-law, as a direct family member, could apply to the National Archives of Canada for both her brother’s records and her husband’s (you can apply for the brother’s records, as he has been dead for more than 20 years–but you have to show documentation of date of death). (You could fill out the required paperwork, and have her sign). You can get information on how to do this here:
http://www.genealogy.gc.ca/10/100907_e.html
It’s well worth it, though you should be made aware that everything - everything appears in these files. For example, a good friend of mine got his great-uncle’s WWI service records, and found that he had contracted VD, as well as being punished for an unspecified crime by “Field Punishment No. 1,” which consisted of being tied spreadeagled to a wagon wheel for 8 hours a day. I’m not saying that your relatives did anything to be ashamed of, you understand–just that you may want to look the records over carefully before showing the mother-in-law.
I encourage all Canadians (and the many Americans who had relatives who joined the Canadian forces in WW1 & WW2) to seek out their family history. The Canadian Archives charges a paltry 15 or 20 cents a page for reproduction–the average file costs about $18, plus postage.
You can find your WWI Canadian Army relative’s “attestation paper” online here:
Thanks, Rodd Hill
I appreciate the help, I’m always struggling to find the time and your head start is sure to be a big help.
To return the kindness I would like to recommend a very good book that I just read, about World War I, but a very interesting read. I so rarely read a war book but this was quite exceptional, I believe it was just released. (It came to me through a friend in publishing.) It details the experience of a couple of First Nations young men, it was remarkable on so many levels.
‘Three Day Road’, by Joseph Boyden.
And thank you again.
I drove by Groesbeek cemetery a while back.
So many graves, it was hard to believe.
Rodd, where did you get the image of the postcard? I just got back from a trip to Ottawa and visited the new War Museum while waiting for my flight - they had what looked like an original of this postcard on display in the WWII section.
Hi, Northern Piper! I’m very jealous of you seeing the new museum–I hope to get back over the Rockies myself at some point to visit.
They had one of these cards, eh?? Neat! I have about 4 different ones in what I assume was a series, done in Holland by some local printer, to sell as souvenirs to Canadian soldiers.
I have several in the display, including one of several somewhat ruddy-cheeked Canadians driving somewhat erratically in their jeep, clutching bottles marked “Bols,” and one of a startled Canadian who has discarded a cigarette butt, only to have several Dutch men scrambling to retrieve it at his feet!
The cards, and pretty much everything else in the display, is out of my own personal collection. I’ve been picking up odds and ends for nearly 30 years, starting with family bits and pieces. My boss jokes that when they hired me as curator, they doubled the size of the collection!
Had a somewhat verklempt moment today. We had a Dutch couple through, in their mid-60s, who were so astonished to see a display with text in Dutch (as well as French and English, of course!) about the liberation. The husband recalled how he remembered as a very young boy, seeing these big tall men who were in green, not grey (like the Germans), who gave him chocolates and white bread (which seemed like cake to him!) He got very teary-eyed at the memory.
Rodd, I strongly recommend a tour of the new Museum if you can swing it. I only had time to go through the Legion Hall of Honour and the WWII section - and sure enough, in the Dieppe section I found some references to the South Saskatchewans. I’d forgotten that their colonel, Cec Meritt, got the V.C. that day. Have you ever read Green Beach? I loaned my copy out several years ago and of course it never came back…
The only other part of the Museum that I had time to look at is the little Memorial Hall - very stark, with the original tombstone from the Unknown Soldier mounted on a wall - must have brought it over from the Commonwealth grave when he was interred at the War Memorial on Elgin Street. There’s only a few windows in the Hall, high up. The windows are designed so that the sun will shine on the tombstone at 11 a.m., November 11.