(Interview and pictures courtesy of RTV Oost / Information Centre Canadian War Cemetery Holten, Jan Braakman and Sander Jongsma)

Last year, we brought you a story about a Dutch documentary crew looking for information on Saskatchewan soldiers - specifically two from Moose Jaw - who had died in the Second World War and are now buried at the Canadian War Cemetery in Holten, Netherlands.

While no relatives of the two soldiers from Moose Jaw - Private James A. Brown and Sergeant Walter A. Shea - were found, RTV Oost/Information Centre at the Canadian War Cemetery conducted a number of interviews across the

Still of Leo Bouvier from 'Lest We Forget'prairies, including one with Leo Bouvier of Gravelbourg.

After the Netherlands fell to Nazi occupation in May of 1940, Allied forces were not able to enter the country until September of 1944. 1,394 Canadian military personnel found their final resting place at the Canadian Military Cemetery, with most casualties happening in the final stages of the war during the advance of the 2nd Canadian Corps into Germany.

Bouvier's brother, Maurice, died while the two of them were fighting in Europe. In an interview conducted by Jan Braakman and Sander Jongsma, he explained how the two of them ended up joining the military.

"I wanted to see the world, I gotta tell the truth, and that was one way of seeing the world. I don't think I was that patriotic then, I am now and I always was after the war, but I wanted adventure. Maurice wanted to follow me, so he joined the tank corps, but at the time he didn't realize that I had changed from the tank corps to engineers, and he couldn't get out of it."

Bouvier found out his brother died while he was still fighting in Europe. Maurice had been operating a tank that was shot at close range by a German anti-tank weapon on a Dutch farm.

After the war concluded, Bouvier spent time searching for his brother's grave. The military had provided a brief description of where he was buried, along with map coordinates, which he used to find the farm.

"I got to this farm and there was a woman there. When I got into the yard she came to meet us and we talked. Of course, I told her that that was my brother [who was buried there]. At one time I asked here 'Wheres your husband?', she said 'My husband is dead but I don't even know where he was buried', that really hit me. She put flowers around my brother's grave every 3-4 days. But that was a really sad day for me, she lost her husband, I lost my brother."

Bouvier spent 6 months in Europe after the war, including time in the Netherlands where he sold army blankets that had been left behind to Dutch women who used them to make skirts.

"The Dutch people loved the Canadians, they loved us, especially the kids when I gave them chocolate bars."

Bouvier did end up going back to Europe later in life but said he couldn't bring himself to visit Maurice's grave again.

"My whole family went. The Netherlands paid for the trip. I went to Europe with my wife after the war but I didn't go back [to Maurice's grave site]. I don't know why. Maybe I didn't want to go back, I don't know. I wanted to show my wife where I had been."

The documentary has been completed and can be viewed by clicking here. While the documentary is in Dutch, all interviews featured in the documentary are in English. 

More information on the Canadian War Cemetery in Holten, Netherlands can be found here.