Chapter 49

Canadian troops were spread throughout the Netherlands, waiting for their boat ride home. Apeldoorn had a contingent of soldiers, mostly engineers, to help remove building rubble and restore power and telephone service to the local areas. Another service they provided was a sweep of farmlands to detect any unexploded ordinance, so farmers could harvest their crops or prepare the land for the next planting.

The engineers arrived early the following morning with their detection equipment. I cared about my Dutch family, but it sure was nice to speak English with several of the soldiers. When a few found out I had married the farmer’s daughter, they congratulated me and complimented Lana on her striking beauty. I’m sure that the fact she wore no blouse under her bodice pleased their eyes.

The fields were soon declared safe to walk and drive over. About noon, twenty or so farmers, some with tractors arrived. Boris told me it was customary for farmers to help the other with harvesting their crops so it was done quicker and they could sell their products to food stores and other towns. The fresh products were put in burlap bags in cold storage for later sales.

I worked alongside Boris to clear his crops of potatoes and carrots. I’d walk behind the machines, digging up and collecting the potatoes and carrot bunches they missed. I found the uneven ground to be painful on my right calf muscle.

It was gruelling work with long hours. At the end of each workday, Lana welcomed me with a soothing bath, a glass of wine, a good meal, then fucking her or Benthe, then the other. By the end of five days of helping other farmers, I was exhausted, and every muscle seemed to ache. My parents had the luxury of machinery to tend to their crops back home.

Boris was able to make some money from his crop sales, though not nearly enough to rebuild his barn and windmill. Father Dekker had spoken with Boris and Benthe several times about personal documentation if they and Lana had a valid passport.

On the 6th of August, Father Dekker came to visit us. “Heb je vandaag naar de radio geluisterd?”

“Have you been listening to the radio today?” He asked as Benthe let him in the house.

“Nee, dat hebben we niet.”

“No, we haven’t,” Boris replied.

“The Americans have dropped a massive bomb on a city in Japan, called Hiroshima, killing tens of thousands of people,” Father Dekker said to us.

“De Amerikanen hebben een enorme bom laten vallen op een stad in Japan, Hiroshima genaamd, waarbij tienduizenden mensen om het leven zijn gekomen.”

I wondered what size bomb it would take to cause so much death? Were bombers capable of carrying several ten or twenty-ton bombs?

“I have other news that effects everyone,” he said.

“Ik heb ander nieuws dat iedereen aangaat.”

“Richard, I’ll tell you first in English then explain the same to Boris, Benthe, and Lana. I have booked passage for all of you to Canada on a hospital ship, the Lady Nelson. It was easy to get you on as a passenger, saying you had suffered head and leg wounds, and a little convincing to let Lana go with you, otherwise she’d have to go to Canada later in the year or possibly the next.”

“I had more difficulty getting the authorities to agree to Boris and Benthe also going with you. I explained that Boris and Benthe are Dutch farming refugees, whose livelihood was destroyed by the Germans. You had contacted your parents and they agreed to sponsor them. I have a telegram from your parents confirminig their help. The necessary documentation I got from the Canadian unit here in Apeldoorn.”

“I mentioned that Lana and Benthe are both pregnant. I asked them would they want their pregnant wife to travel on a ship with thousands of troops and all the noise and commotion that goes with them? I was asked how many months pregnant they are and I stretched the truth a little, saying seven months.”

“When does the ship leave port?”

“It leaves The Hague on the thirteenth of this month with a stop in Liverpool for some wounded troops then onto Halifax. You are expected to board the ship the day before leaving. It’s scheduled to arrive in Halifax on the twenty-first.”

I was stunned by Father Dekker’s help that would have taken me weeks to months to arrange. I would believe it was all true once the ship left port and Liverpool, heading for Canada.