Sixty-seven years ago during the Second World War, Canadian soldiers who were fighting the Nazis in the Netherlands gave a 10-year-old Dutch girl a special Christmas gift. They asked a seamstress in that village to take a wool Canadian Army blanket and make it into a coat for young Sussie Cretier, who had become a little sister and a good luck charm for the soldiers during their stand in that part of Holland. On December 25, 1944, Canadian tank commander Bob Elliott from Calgary, Alberta, handed little Sussie a Christmas gift package that included the coat and a few other items. Then Bob continued shooting at the Nazis and Sussie ran home to show her parents this amazing gift.
More than 35 years later, Bob Elliott returned to the Netherlands to visit some of the Dutch people he had met during the war, including Sussie's family. Bob and Sue quickly reconnected. He was surprised and delighted to see that she still had the little coat. To Sue, it was the most precious gift she had ever received. Within a short time, Sue followed Bob back to Canada and brought her coat with her.
Saskatchewan author Alan Buick wrote about this fascinating true story in
The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story. Here, he talks about the book:
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