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CF Nijmegen marchers visit fallen comrades
By Sergeant Kyle Richards, Army News
Members of the RMC Nijmegen team observe a moment of silence for Major H.C.J Morison of the 12th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, who was killed 8 Feb 1945 at the age of 27, as Officer Cadet François-Olivier Gauthier places a Canadian flag on his grave.
The 19 Wing team poses at the grave of Gunner R.G.F. Filsinger of the Royal Canadian Artillery. Gnr Filsinger was the great-uncle of 19 Wing’s team leader, who is back home in Comox nursing a foot injury suffered while training for Nijmegen.
“Our team leader suffered a stress fracture training for Nijmegen, so she asked us to visit her great-uncle on her behalf.”
Groesbeek, Netherlands; 17 July 2008 — On Day Three of the Nijmegen Marches, the Canadian Forces contingent stopped at the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery for the annual remembrance of the soldiers and airmen who died in the Netherlands in 1944 and 1945, and are either buried here or listed here among those who have no known grave.
The village of Groesbeek lies about 10 kilometers east of the city of Nijmegen. The 2,338 Canadians buried in Groesbeek fought in the Rhineland campaign, in which the German Army was cleared out of the area between the Maas and the Rhine Rivers, and driven back into Germany. Within the cemetery stands the Groesbeek Memorial, which honours soldiers with no known graves by name and unit.
The ceremony was an international event attended by teams from other Commonwealth nations, and local residents who still show great affection for Canadians.
“I attend this service every year to visit my father and talk to Canadian soldiers. It makes me feel closer to him,” said Robuan Waas, who was born in Nijmegan in August 1945. Mr. Waas is the son of Private J.A.L Gosselin, a Canadian soldier from Quebec, who was killed on 26 February 1945.
