Month: February 2026

On The War Memorial Trail…..Our 2025 Visit To The Indigenous Liberators Exhibition At Freedom Museum Groesbeek

/ On The War Memorial Trail With Pieter & Daria / 2 Comments

Ottoman in the Indigenous Liberators Exhibition room at Freedom Museum Groesbeek. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

February 2, 2026. Last spring we were in The Netherlands and Belgium for the 80th Anniversary of Liberation Commemoration events, and placed flags at the graves of 383 soldiers in 14 cemeteries, plus visited a number of memorials, museums related to WWII, and even did a battlefield tour. 

….4 photos of Indigenous Soldiers had been provided by us…

Banner at the entrance to the Indigenous Liberators Exhibtion room.  (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

Towards the end of our stay in Europe, we went to the Freedom Museum (Vrijheids Museum in Dutch) in Groesbeek to see the Indigenous Liberators Exhibition, entitled ‘Indigenous Liberators: First Nation, Métis and Native American soldiers and the Liberation of the Netherlands WWII’. It was a very special visit for us as over the years we’d provided 4 of the photos of soldiers that were used:

Interactive map showed where the Indigenous soldiers came from.  Two examples: Harry Henry Davis is seen at the top far left, and at the far right is Leo Francis Toney. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

….Niece of WWII soldier Leo Toney provided a Lnu flag as well as permission to use a photo of her uncle…

Leo Francis Toney Exhibit. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

Before featuring photos of the WWII soldiers in the Indigenous Liberators Exhibition, permission had been received from the families to do so. When we contacted Della Maguire, niece of Leo Francis TONEY, on behalf of Radboud University, which was preparing the exhibits,  she emailed us to say “…yes of course I would feel very honoured for Radboud University to use Uncle Leo’s photos.… This sounds like a beautiful Indigenous Exhibition….So happy you both will be there. Wela’lin (thank you)….”

Rense Havinga, holding the Lnu flag, and Pieter by the Leo Francis Toney exhibit.  (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

Della then asked if we would give a Lnu (Mi’Kmaq) flag to the museum, which we did. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mi’kmaq) The flag was presented to Rense Havinga, Curator at the Freedom Museum, who was deeply touched by this donation.

….We wrote in the visitors’ book that we’d come on behalf of the Toney family…

Daria wrote in the visitors’ book. (Photo credit: Pieter Valkenburg)

I wrote in the visitors’ book that we had come on behalf of the Leo Toney family, and mentioned the names of the other 3 soldiers whose photos we had provided. 

Entry in the visitors’ book. (Photo credit: Daria Valkenburg)

Thank you to Della Maguire for providing a Lnu (Mi’Kmaq) flag to donate to the museum. 

We had one last adventure on our 2025 European War Memorial Tour – a trip to Germany to follow the route taken by Canadian troops during the winter of 1945.

The research work continues for Pieter.  If you have photos or information to share about soldiers buried in The Netherlands or Belgium, please email him at memorialtrail@gmail.com, or comment on the blog.    

© Daria Valkenburg

….Want to follow our research?…

If you are reading this posting, but aren’t following our research, you are welcome to do so.  Our blog address: https://onthewarmemorialtrail.com/

4 countries, 6 weeks, 7,000 km – an unforgettable war memorial journey in Europe…. Daria’s book ‘No Soldier Buried Overseas Should Ever Be Forgotten‘ is available in print and e-book formats.  Net proceeds of book sales help support research costs and the cost of maintaining this blog. For more information see https://nosoldierforgotten.com/

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