Time Witnesses: The Liberation Of Belgium
Hubert Christiaen tells of the arrival of Canadian troops in Belgium after the Germans had retreated towards the end of World War Two.
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We were thankful that the retreat of the Germans and the arrival of the Canadians was done without too much fighting. I was at the farm of my grandmother as the first tanks came - everyone cheering - one of my uncles hitched a ride on a tank and came back with some chocolate for me. I only ate half and kept the rest and hid it so well that I almost forgot it.
Soon we started getting all sorts of wonderful foods. EGG-POWDER! We had never seen this before and thought an egg-powder ommelette was simply amazing - and when I first saw the bread that the Canadians ate, I couldn't believe that bread could be so pure pure white as that.
I would love to hear from a Canadian school what those soldiers thought of us. Their tanks made a terrible mess of the cobbled streets as they turned round at the Church, but we put the cobbles back and forgave them.
