Impressions of the Dutch People

Interviewer: Mr. Dowie, what was your impression of the Dutch people that you met during that spring of 1945? They were very welcoming to us. They needed a lot of food. And because we were scroungers in our regiment, we had lots of food leftover from our sea rations and sea packs because we lived off the land whenever possible. We were able to give them food that we had because we knew our next load was coming up anyway and they were very cooperative. We had a different feeling than we had in Italy with them and they sort of welcomed the fact that the Canadians or anybody was there to relieve them from the Nazis. We held them in this stead. Although, at the end of the war, our last job was guarding German prisoners against the underground. As the Germans surrendered, they were put into compounds and our job was to prevent the resistance movement from getting in and killing them because they'd given up all their arms and were all there, which was a funny position to be in. Interviewer: Protecting the very people who, not too long ago, were trying to kill you. Yeah. But they were mostly young kids. Mostly teenagers, and I don't think half of them knew what the heck they were doing anyway.

Mr. Dowie describes his impressions of the Dutch people and guarding German prisoners.

Vernon Dowie

Mr. Dowie was born in Montreal on August 9, 1920. His father was from Jamaica and was a medical doctor who trained in Cambridge, England. His father did not have a medical licence in Canada and thus worked at a variety of jobs including painting and as a railway porter. Mr. Dowie joined the Three Rivers Regiment in August 1940 and was part of the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade. He trained in England and served in Italy, Sicily, and Holland. He is still involved with the Three Rivers Regiment.