To the editor,
This May it is 80 years ago since the Second World War came to an end. I was born in The Netherlands – more commonly known as Holland - just before war was declared. In May 1945, when the war came to an end, there was an immense sense of excitement in the old city of Hattem where my mother, younger sister and I spent the war years with my paternal grandparents after my Pappa was shipped off to a prisoner of war camp since he was an officer in the Netherlands army.
On that spring evening in May 1945 my mom took me to the city centre where soon vehicles arrived carrying Canadian soldiers. We were free and the people who gathered that evening were overwhelmed with joy and elation. Free! Free! Free!
A couple of weeks later my Pappa came home and our family was complete again. Even though the war is a long time ago now, the Dutch citizens have never forgotten what the Canadian soldiers did for them. The many graveyards where fallen Canadian soldiers are buried are cared for regularly. War changes you – the individual as well as the collective ‘you”.
In 1940 Terrace was a small hamlet of between 350 to 400 inhabitants. However, change arrived when Japan was flexing its muscles by bombing Pearl Harbour in 1941and the United States joined the conflict. There was a concern that there could be a Japanese invasion of the West Coast of B.C. and the U.S. wanted to have road access to Alaska which until then could only be served via its ports.
Soon thousands of Canadian soldiers and construction workers arrived and Terrace was never the same again. Camps were built in a number of places around Terrace, one being the military camp and hospital on what we now know as the Terraceview Lodge, McConnell Estates and parkland on the corner of Sparks and Halliwell.
The impact of the arrival of the men who came to protect the West Coast resulted in the building of a highway north, a hospital as well as the infrastructure of a municipal water system. Other changes which came about included an airport which today is the Northwest Regional Airport Terrace - Kitimat.
The only Second World War building which remains of the hospital complex is located just north of where the Heritage Park Museum is located. It's called the Kin Hut but it was really the mess hall for the medical personnel.
The volunteer board of the Heritage Park Museum have been considering if this last remaining structure, of a time of huge change for our city, should be preserved and added to the pioneer structures which were moved from their original location and lovingly preserved on the museum grounds.
We have proposed this to our city council but this has not been seriously considered as one councillor commented, ‘it’s very old’. Yes, and so are the other eight buildings in our museum.
We’ve not had permission from council to have the building inspected by knowledgeable people to ascertain the viability of restoring it. At a recent council meeting councillors voted to demolish it at an estimated cost of $110,000.
In our plans we see this building becoming used as a community centre as well as a safe place (free of moisture, insects and vermin) for changing displays of our many artifacts. We’re not asking for the City of Terrace to fund this project but will look for grants and fundraise in other ways.
War changes you – the individual as well as the collective ‘you”.
Christine Eide,
Terrace, B.C.
