Remembrance - Bob and Sue Elliott and their Little Coat

Every year since November 2009, when I published Alan J. Buick’s book The Little Coat - The Bob and Sue Elliott Story, I can’t help but think of Bob and Sue Elliott on Remembrance Day.

They were unsung Canadian and Dutch heroes of a sort. Until Alan’s book, of course, which helped thousands of readers worldwide learn their names and something about the sacrifices made by them and people like them who served in and/or lived through the combat zones of the Second World War.

Bob enlisted in the Canadian Army in Calgary when he was only 15 years old. My oldest grandson is close to that age now and I can’t imagine the fear and worry of being unable to do anything but watch that young man go off to war as Bob did, having told recruiters that he was 20 years old and wanted to follow in the footsteps of his older brothers.

By age 19, Bob Elliott was a tank commander in the Canadian Army and was fighting the German army in the Netherlands. There, he met a feisty, 10-year-old Dutch girl named Everdina “Sussie” Cretier. Sussie had earlier saved her father from a German firing squad and their whole family had just escaped to the safety of the Canadian army after running across a field dotted with landmines.

Sussie - soon known as Sue - became a good-luck charm for the Canadian soldiers, especially those in Bob’s troop, who wanted to give her a Christmas gift. On Christmas Day 1944, Bob presented Sue with a child’s coat that the soldiers had asked a local seamstress to sew out of a wool Canadian Army blanket. The buttons on the coat came from the soldiers’ tunics.

Sue cherished that gift and kept it for decades, long after she and Bob reconnected and she moved to Canada to be with him. Alan Buick saw the coat on display at the Royal Canadian Legion in Olds, Alberta, and began asking questions about it - which led him to write his award-winning book, The Little Coat.

Bob Elliott passed away in February 2013.

We learned today that Sue Elliott passed away in May of this year. We express our heartfelt condolences to their families and all who loved them.

I was privileged to meet and talk with Sue and Bob during our launch of The Little Coat book from the Royal Canadian Legion hall in Olds, Alberta in November 2009. They connected with us by video, long before that became an everyday occurrence. Alan Buick and I were thrilled that the subjects of Alan's book could participate in our launch and visit with their family members and friends in the audience via video chat. 

In 2013, I was thrilled to meet Sue in person in the Netherlands, when I travelled there on a vacation with my late husband, Al. I wrote a blog about that adventure, from the perspective of the book talking to us. It was great fun and Sue was, as always, energetic and full of laughter.

Bob and Sue’s story and sacrifices will never be forgotten. Nor will those of thousands of others who served and placed themselves in danger in the name of freedom.

We will remember them. Rest in peace, dear friends.

 

Bob and Sue Elliott in 2010 with a tank
resembling the one Bob used in the war

Alan Buick, author, views The Little Coat ("child's coat")
on display in the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, 2010

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More of my blog posts about Bob and Sue Elliott:

Seeing this "Little Coat" inspired a country singer to write an award-winning book, Dec 2017

Viewing The Little Coat at the Military Museums, Calgary, Alberta, August 2015

Liberation Day Netherlands 70th Anniversary and The Little Coat book, May 2015

Remembrance - Bob Elliott and The Little Coat book, Nov 2014

From Blanket to Coat to Book to Painting, June 2013

The little coat is 67 years old! Dec 2011

Seeing this "Little Coat" inspired a country singer to write an award-winning book

Canadian soldier Bob Elliott and his crew asked a Dutch seamstress to make this child's coat from a Canadian Army blanket. The buttons came from the soldiers' tunics. The soldiers gave the coat to their "good-luck charm", 10-year-old Sussie Cretier, on Christmas Day 1944.

Alan J. Buick was a full-time carpentry instructor and a part-time country singer when he noticed the unique child's coat in a case on display in Olds, Alberta. Here is  what the first glimpse of that little coat meant to him:

Seeing the “little coat” for the first time - at the Royal Canadian Legion in Olds, Alberta in September 2004 - filled me with bewilderment more than passion. I asked a friend, who had come to hear my wife Carol and I play music that night, why this coat with Canadian Army buttons was displayed with all the wartime memorabilia; it was far too small for a soldier to have worn. My friend proceeded to relate some of the story behind its creation – it was a Christmas gift in 1944 from Canadian soldiers to a 10-year-old Dutch girl who had become a good-luck charm for them; she later brought the coat to Canada.

It was then that my passion for this tale began.

The most powerful moment was when I learned that the little Dutch girl who wore the coat and the soldier who gave it to her were not only still alive in 2004, but married to each other! I knew I had an epic by the tail! I had to find out more.

I contacted Bob and Sue Elliott - the Canadian soldier and the Dutch girl - who were at that time living in the Netherlands. The email address I'd been given for them failed, so snail mail was the only other choice. They replied to my letter and the journey to turn their story into a book began.

These were Sue's words: "I have no problem telling you what it was like growing up under Nazi rule, but good luck when you get to Bob!”

She was right. Bob, like many veterans, preferred not to talk about the horrors of war; the recollections opened old wounds long forgotten.

Bob and Sue and I met face-to-face at the Royal Canadian Legion hall in Olds, Alberta in October 2005 to discuss the procedure for writing this book. It was a truly amazing day. Just talking to these two wonderful people who had endured so much was an awe-inspiring experience for me.

 

Bob and Sue (Sussie) Elliott in 2005 with Sue's little coat on display at the Royal Canadian Legion in Olds, Alberta, Canada.

I knew I had not collected all the information I needed that day. The journey I had chosen was both humbling and difficult. I was dealing with 65-year-old memories! A good example of this was the day before my publisher, Deana Driver, was to send the manuscript off to print, Sue told me of the German soldier who visited with her family frequently. This information had to be included in the book as it showed how not all German people were evil.
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At the close of our 2005 meeting, Sue asked me what she should do with her little coat. I said it should be in a museum, where it would inform future generations of the compassion and generosity Canadian soldiers had for the emaciated and spiritually worn-down peoples of the Netherlands. They contacted the Canadian War Museum, which promptly sent two representatives to the Olds Legion to carefully prepare this ancient garment for the long flight to Ottawa.

 

Alan J. Buick, author of the award-winning, Canadian best-selling book The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story, available from www.driverworks.ca

  

Prior to the official book launch, scheduled to take place at the Olds Legion on November 11, 2009, a pre-launch gathering was held at the Armoury Officers' Mess in Regina. As strange as it may sound and with fate in our corner, one of the officials from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands happened to be present that night, Hans Moor. We gave him a copy of my book, The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story, and he read it on his flight back to Ottawa.

A few weeks later, I was invited by him to attend a function at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa to honour the Canadian soldiers of World War II who repatriated the Netherlands. This was an amazing evening. There was I, a New Zealand farmboy, rubbing shoulders and chatting with Dutch Ambassador Wim Geerts and General Charles Belzile, retired commander of the Canadian Forces! A truly humbling and memorable experience.

My most touching moment on that trip was seeing "the child's coat" in its restored state and mounted in a beautiful glass case, complete with a bronze plaque briefly explaining what it was and what it represented. It literally brought me to tears. The War Museum staff had done an excellent job of presenting this wonderful artifact.

 

Alan J. Buick seeing the child's coat at the Canadian War Museum.
(Photo courtesy of Hans Moor, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ottawa, ON) 

It is difficult to pinpoint any incident I told in The Little Coat book as being more significant than another but, if I were to pick just one, it would be when Sussie's (Sue's) family escaped on foot for two kilometres to the safety of the Canadian lines while her family was under fire from German soldiers.

The Little Coat is a perennial story, a story of love and compassion, of terror and human relationships – a perfect gift for men, women, and children ages 10 and up, or even just because. Once you read it, you'll understand the gratitude the Dutch still have for Canadians today and forever. This book captures the true compassion of the Canadian soldiers for the Dutch people in their darkest hour.

Editor's note: The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story was awarded Honourable Mention, 2010 Hollywood Book Festival. $4,500 from sales of The Little Coat has been donated to the Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Command Poppy Trust Fund. $1 from every book sold from 2013 on is donated to the Canadian War Museum, the new home of the 'child's coat' in this inspiring war story turned love story.

Viewing The Little Coat at the Military Museums, Calgary, Alberta

In the fall of 2008, I was contacted by a Saskatchewan man, Alan J. Buick. He heard me being interviewed on a local radio station about our then-new book Prairie Pilot: Lady Luck Was On My Side; Stories of Walter D. Williams and he called the radio station to ask how he could contact me.

Alan had been working on a manuscript for a nonfiction book and he asked me to consider publishing it. I had just started DriverWorks Ink that January. I fell in love with the story and decided to take a chance on publishing the book, which came to be called The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliot Story. Alan will tell you that after our initial meeting, I sent him home with three months of work to do in rewriting and tightening up the manuscript. We are both glad that he did that extra work because the book has gone on to become a national bestseller, sold to customers in many parts of the world. The Little Coat is also an award-winning book, receiving an Honorable Mention in teh Biography category at the 2010 Hollywood Book Festival, honoring books that would make a great film or movie). Here is a video of Alan Buick talking about his book.

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Other great things have happened because of Alan's book:

• The little coat, given by a Canadian soldier to a little Dutch girl in Holland on December 25, 1944, was donated by Bob and Sue Elliott to the Canadian War Museum. In their discussions with Alan Buick, Bob and Sue recognized that their little coat could be a worthy Canadian artifact.
  
• Bev Tosh, a Calgary artist, was inspired by Bob and Sue's story in The Little Coat book and painted Sue's wedding photo in her exhibit honoring Dutch War Brides.
  
• DriverWorks Ink has donated more than $4,000 to the Royal Canadian Legion's Dominion Command Poppy Trust from sales of this book. A further $1 per book sold since 2013 is being donated to the Canadian War Museum.
• In 2013, Al and I were privileged to meet Sue Elliott in person while we were enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime vacation to Europe. Read my blog about that great visit.
  
• Earlier this month, Al and I were pleased to make a special trip to Calgary, Alberta, to see the little coat itself on display at the Military Museums. The coat was on loan from the Canadian War Museum, to accompany Bev Tosh's Dutch War Brides exhibit.

Here are some photos of the museum and the coat, plus a video I shot of us seeing the coat for the first time:

This Mural of Honour mosaic in the foyer of the Military Museums has 240 panels representing Canada's military history from 1812 to present day.

 

 In these displays at the front entrance area, I imagined a young Bob Elliott, the Canadian tank commander, and his crew making their way through Europe during the Second World War.




This was the reason we visited the Military Museums - The Little Coat:
         Here's the video of us seeing the coat for the first time:

And here is the coat at the Military Museums, Calgary - on display there until August 16, 2015:

I was in awe of this beautiful coat.

The buttons on this coat, made from a wool Canadian Army blanket, came from the tunics of the Canadian soldiers.

This is the description for the artifact.

Copies of our book, The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story by Alan J. Buick, sit on a table with other items related to Bev Tosh's exhibit, below.

 Outside, on the grounds of the Military Museums, were other interesting exhibits.

This piece of metal came from one of the World Trade Towers destroyed on September 11, 2011 in New York.

 

Al stood by this collection of tanks to show their actual size. Al is 6'3" tall.

We were glad we had the opportunity to visit this fascinating museum and to see, first-hand, this special little coat. 

Thank you to all who take the time and care for these artifacts that remind us of our history which, in some cases, we never want to see repeated.

Liberation Day Netherlands 70th Anniversary and The Little Coat book

May 5th is Liberation Day in the Netherlands. Today - May 5, 2015 - is the 70th Anniversary of the end of Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during the Second World War. Canada played a major role in ending that occupation. For this reason, Canadians are still highly revered by Dutch citizens.

My husband/publishing partner Al (not pictured) and I (left), along with author Alan J. Buick (centre) and his wife Carol Buick (right), were privileged to be invited by Saskatchewan Honorary Dutch Consul Judie Dyck to attend a celebration ceremony last week in Moose Jaw, honouring some Saskatchewan veterans who fought to free the Netherlands. We were invited to bring our award-winning, best-selling book, The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story to honour Canadian soldier Bob Elliott's heroism and the historic coat given by Canadian soldiers to the then-10-year-old Dutch girl Sussie Cretier during the war.

This was the program for the Saskatchewan event celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Canadian Liberation of the Netherlands, at Moose Jaw's Western Development Museum, April 24, 2015.

 Judie Dyck, Saskatchewan's Honorary Consul to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Canada, organized the celebration.

Judie Dyck, standing on the left as Lt. Colonel Christa Oppers-Beumers, Defence Attaché, Kingdom of the Netherlands, addressed the crowd.

Saskatchewan veterans were thanked for their service.

Lt. Colonel Christa Oppers-Beumers presented 70th Anniversary Liberation pins to veterans.

A veteran introduced herself to the crowd.

Author Alan J. Buick signed copies of The Little Coat book. (Publisher Al Driver is seated at left.)

 Author Alan J. Buick chatted about the inspiring story of The Little Coat.

The veterans and guests were treated to a tour of Canadian Forces Base 15 Wing Moose Jaw in the afternoon.

Maria McNair (nee Van De Werf) chatted with author Alan J. Buick at 15 Wing Moose Jaw. Maria came to Canada from the Netherlands in 1949 as a war bride, settling in Coronach, Saskatchewan. 

Maria's image (above) is one of those - along with Sue Elliott of The Little Coat book (below) - painted in the Canadian-Dutch War Brides exhibit created by Calgary artist Bev Tosh. 

Sue's special little coat (on display previously at the Canadian War Museum below), has been loaned by the Canadian War Museum to Calgary's Military Museums to be a companion to Bev Tosh's Canadian-Dutch War Brides exhibit from May 5 until August 28, 2015. The exhibition is called Trees Heeft een Canadees (Teresa has a Canadian). 

Al and I were privileged to see Bev Tosh's exhibit (above) in Groesbeek, Netherlands in 2013, and to meet Sue Elliott / Sussie Cretier of the book (below) in person in 2013. Here is my blog about that wonderful experience.

The final words go to the late Bob Elliott and to Sue Elliott, from the final pages of our book. Below, they are shown at a 2010 Liberation Day celebration in the Netherlands.

"I see this book as a tribute to all my wartime comrades. It

also expresses my feelings for the people of the Netherlands

who suffered so much under the Germans during the war years.

I am also thankful I have my Sussie."

- Bob Elliott

"My gratitude for the young men who gave up their youth

and their lives for the freedom of our country. I never, ever will

forget.

Veterans, thank you all so very much. You all were heroes

and always will be for the Dutch people. I have one veteran for

myself and I sure love him.

Much love to you all."

- Sussie Elliott