Awesome post. Started a new thread just for this. Would love to hear a bit more when you have time. Many on here appreciate WWII history.

Please tell us more,Hiro.

I am a WWII junkie. Didn’t get to hear enough of my grandfathers’ and their friends’ stories. There is a reason they were “The Greatest Generation”

I am first generation Canadian. My ancestors are all Dutch. Sadly we don't know too much about my grandfather's role in the resistance as he was pretty tight lipped. My father though was born in 1931 and used to deliver messages between resistance cells from about 1943 on. The Germans were sticklers for checking papers but didn't tend to search kids on bicycles too much. Bicycles then didn't have tires due to the war and they just rode around on steel rims. My father's family were rural farmers and as such were always able to hide some of their farm production from the Germans and as a result were never in danger of starving. Affected my old man greatly though as he always kept at least 1/3 of his assets in gold bullion hidden on the family farm in Canada after he immigrated in 1951. Never trusted governments or systems after the war and always wanted hard currency on hand to barter if the need arose.

My mom's family were urbanites living in Rotterdam and they suffered greatly in the last 6 months of the war. No food basically - they subsisted on tulip bulbs at the end. My mom's father was in the Dutch armed forces and in the short period that Holland fought the Germans before they surrendered, he saw intense combat and was put into a coma for 6 months by a grenade explosion. Germans found him naked in a ditch (clothes blown off) and didn't know if he was Dutch or German until he woke from his coma 6 months later. When woke he had amnesia, and they only knew he was Dutch because that was the language he spoke. Eventually his memory returned and he was sent home to Holland and reunited with his family but had PTSD that dogged him for the rest of his life. He was a kind gentle man and combat harmed him greatly. I have two types of memory where he is concerned. He was mostly the best kindest grandfather a kid could have but once in awhile he would be locked away in a bedroom suffering from PTSD panic attacks.

My mom suffered from the affects of malnutrition for the rest of her life after the war. At age 12 all her teeth fell out and she has had dentures ever since. She is still with us and turns 91 this year - tough old bird.

Mom and dad met throught the church in Canada and bought the family farm in 1955. We were poor immigrants but i didn't know any better as we existed in an immigrant community of dirt poor immigrants and didn't really mix with "Canadians." I remember when we got running water in 1980 - was a big deal. In fact i didn't know anyone who wasn't Dutch until i went to university in 1985. I was the first in my generation (about 30 of us and i am the middle age wise) to go post secondary. Was made very clear to me it was on my $ and no money coming for that. Old man wanted me on the farm - but was a chicken farm and i F'n hate chickens unless they are southern deep fried.

I aslo have a great uncle on my mom's side - Om Arie. He died not that long ago (maybe 10 years ago) and was 108. He too was also recognized by the Israeli government as a righteous gentile. He was involved in hiding many Jews from the Germans. He survived the war and his Israeli status gave him many perks after the war. He got a pension and paid holidays from the Israeli's above and beyond what he got from the Dutch government. I remember visiting him once when i was 10 years old in Holland and he seemed a very jovial man similar to my mom's dad. I remember him spinning my sister and I on a roundabout in a park in Kampen Holland.

Very nice, sir. Thanks for sharing.

Very interesting story. Thank you so much for taking the time to share.

Great story, thanks for sharing. Wish this history and knowledge was front & center in everyone's mind to keep us from repeating the same mistakes.

^^^^
No kidding.


Like most on here, our family grew up in lower middle class America. The stories we tell our kids about how easy they have it versus the way we grew up.


11 of us living in a small 3 bedroom, 2 bath house, lawn mower did not have an engine, pushing it made the wheels turn the blade, mom washing clothes in a tub and hanging them on a clothes line, doing dishes in the sink, Black & White tv no remotes, one rotary phone on the wall for all to share, Brown bagged our lunch everyday for school usually a PBJ or Bologna with cheese sammich and so on.

Then we have the pleasure of reading about how Hirogen's family and ancestors lived or basically existed for a large portion of their life, the current wilderness way of life he currently lives
Imagine not having running water, riding bicycles with no rubber tires, eating Tulips just to survive and so on.

Sure makes me feel like I was pretty spoiled back then also.

Another thanks for sharing, always enjoy reading your epic outdoor adventures

God bless you and your family!

Hope to have the chance to buy you a beer someday soon

Enjoyed your story Hirogen. Thanks for being part of this forum.

Funny that. Just bought myself a 6 figure truck and paid cash - I like my toys. Make more money in a year than my old man could ever imagine. Have a dishwasher for 30+ years now. But you know what i don't use it ever. Wife does if she gets to it first - but she is like 5th generation Canadian and grew up with money. Me i will unload the sucker and wash everything by hand. Saves water and in the winter saves heat. Hot water from the dish washer just goes down the drain along with all the BTUs it is carrying. Me i will wash by hand than leave the water in the sink until it is room temp so the BTUs in that water get into and are used to heat the house. Weird the habits that stay with you your while life.



I still have one. Anchored to the house on one end and a big old maple about 50 feet away on the other end. Classic double with two big pulley/wheels. Why the F would i pay money to run a dryer when the weather is nice and mother nature will do the job for free.

And guess what for all those libtards out there my dish washing and clothes drying is probably a whole lot more carbon neutral then whatever is done in your citiot condos. As is my heating as it is almost 100% neutral as wood is renewable.

I think i was born in the wrong generation. Should been out there with Lewis and Clark, David Thompson or Captain Cook. Or to put a Texas slant on it Davy Crockett and James Bowie.

I loved the way our clothes smelled when mom washed them and hung them out to dry.

I do run a clothes line wire between two Post Oak trees to hang my hunting clothes out on.

The wife and I wash the pots & Pans and a few certain other things by hand. I sometimes wonder if it would be a lot more efficient to just wash all of them by hand, our dishwasher runs for a very long time