As mentioned on the preceding page, Donald Somerville returned a couple of times to France and Holland. In 2014 he made the trip from Canada to Europe twice. In June, Donald was to be found in Normandy, France for the ceremonies at Juno Beach when 70 years of the D-Day landing were commemorated. During this time, my most important source for these pages, Ryan Barr, was also traveling through Europe, with his father, to retrace the steps of his grandfather, Harold Barr (see botom of this page).

Ryan Barr was approached by a fellow named Bill McVean. Bill was instrumental in getting the story out about the 23rd, and he returns to Holland every year during the Market Garden anniversary festivities. Bill had learned about how close Ryan an Donald were, and he suggested that Ryan should write to the ‘Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur’, and nominate Donald for his exploits in France during the war.

After the festivities in France, Donald returned with his daughter Darlene back to Canada, to take some rest, before returning again to Europe. This time, Donald would be present for the ceremonies in September 2014 to remember Operation Market-Garden. Naturally, Darlene would be his traveling companion. And so the two boarded on September 10 the Air Canada Boeing 777-300ER C-FRAM from Toronto to Frankfurt.

How does coincidence works? Well in strange ways,… Ryan Barr working for Air Canada received a call from ‘Veterans Affairs’ that Donald was awarded with the Legion of Honour. He knew on which plane Donald and Darlene were having a seat. And through a satellite message, he contacted the crew in the cockpit, to forward the message to ‘two important passengers’. One of the crew scribbled a personal note on the message (see picture).

According to Ryan Barr: 'talking about the Legion of Honour award, he couldn't understand why he deserved to have it.... actually his first lines on the airplane after he found out about the award were "There must be some kind of mistake".... that is typical Donald!'

In Holland, Mario van Gerwen was waiting with his new GMC and trailer to show to Donald. In the trailer, Mario constructed a special couch for Donald and Darlene. During the Market-Garden tour, Donald and Darlene had ‘Storm King’ seats to watch the Dutch people waving and cheering at the liberators.

Mario had built into his GMC truck, a video camera. When the trip went underway, Mario shot some great footage of Donald and Darlene. In the early hours of September 14 the tour went through the town of Valkenswaard. For an idea of what the Market-Garden remembrance tour is like, click on the link above.

During his stay in Schijndel, at the B&B of Patricia Speelman, Donald had his 92nd birthday on September 19. As the picture shows below, Donald had a great time celebrating his birthday. There even was a cake with a picture on it, where Donald is standing beside the trailer (the same picture as above, where Donald is standing in his 'civies').

It was not only an emotional trip, there was also room for humor (such as Donald in a party hat, pictured above). During the trip towards the Engineers Monument at Driel, Mario was stopped by a policeman. And according to eyewitness Darlene, the following dialog took place between the cop and Mario,…:
Cop: ‘You will never get that vehicle up to the Engineers Monument’,… do you have a ticket, Mario…?’
Mario: ‘Yes sir,… It’s in the back seat,…!’
Cop: ‘Carry on!!’

September 22, the last day of their stay in Holland, the whole bunch went for diner in Nunspeet. Here they met with the Mayor Hemmen and former Mayor De Kovel. On 23 September Donald and Darlene said goodbye to everyone, and especially to Rieki Vissenberg, for staying at her place during their visit to Holland.

Donald has no time to grow old, nowadays he spends countless hours visiting elementary schools, visiting with the mentally challenged community in Mississauga, and makes countless hours during the Canadian Poppy Campaign every November. And is now already looking forward to come to Holland in May 2015,...