Bergen Op Zoom

This cemetery is located in the Dutch town of Bergen Op Zoom. It is about a 30 minute walk from the town and it is actually two different cemeteries. There is the Bergen Op Zoom War Cemetery, for any commonwealth soldier, and then there is the Bergen Op Zoom Canadian War Cemetery about 500 meter from the other cemetery. They are roughly the same size, and the only reason to have separate cemeteries is to emphasize the Canadian effort in the area. A good part of Belgium and most of the Netherlands were taken back by the Canadian 1^st army, and this cemetery being separate emphasizes the fact that we had an entirely different army that the British armies. Other commonwealth countries had their own units and even division but they were a part of the British 2^nd or 3^rd Armies. The Canadians on the other had their own Army, and it was under an entirely Canadian command. At every other location I have come across, there were Canadian war cemeteries, but other commonwealth soldiers were also interred there. Here, however, it was entirely Canadians.

Most people, even most Canadians, think of the Canadian army as a joke but by the end of WWII we had the 4^th largest Airforce, the 3^rd largest Navy and 4^th Largest Army in the world. This memorial, by being so close to another commonwealth memorial, yet being dedicated solely to Canadian reminded me just how much of a sacrifice Canadians in particular made to the war effort.