First of all a short introduction: my name is Frank Dumez, 50 years old, married/two children, and living in Westdorpe, a small village in het Southern part of Holland nearby the Belgian border and close to the river de Westerschelde (the Scheldt).

Although I'm from a much younger generation, we still pay respects to our Canadian liberators at our annual remembrance.

My general interest is World War-2, my particular interest is the Atlantikwall in West Zeeuws Vlaanderen during the Battle for the the Scheldt River Estuary (“Operation Switchback” ). I’ve studied literature,documents and War Memoirs/Diaries and also have contacts with the German Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv Freiburg and the Canadian McPherson Library(Special Collections) at Victoria.

One of the latest War Diaries I’ve been studying was 14th Field Regiment, 3th Canadian Division, 1st Canadian Army from oct.4th ‘44 till nov.9th ‘44“.

Since 2006 I try to get a brighter view on the liberation of our region and the Atlantikwall in West Zeeuws Vlaanderen during the Battle for the the Scheldt River Estuary by gathering information such as War Diaries / personal memoirs / documents / maps / regimental photos etc.

Please feel free to contact me !

All this work is non-profit I’m just a Dutch hobby historian with a special interest

Best Regards,

Frank Dumez

(email address removed by Marion)

Graafjansdijk A 180a

4554 AM

Westdorpe

Holland

Wow! very amazing at first it looks like kaos, but these guys are like a machine the way they work . Hell yeah!

Vee

I read a news story today about a "U.N. backed Tribunal" that plans on prosecuting 4 aging (in their 80's) members of the Khymer Rouge for the mass murders that occured in Cambodia between 1976 and 1979. Do you think these highly publisized, high cost proceedings are worth the cost? Whenever I see something with the title "U.N. backed" it usually means USA to foot the bill for everything, which always bothers me. In the past I have supported the prosecution of nazi war criminals regardless of their age, but I'm beginning to believe it would be more practical to just let the CIA or Simon Wiesanthal's organization bump them off quietly and without fanfare instead of going through the extradition fights and etc. that are always a part of these war criminal proceedings. I still think it is important for all of these war criminals to pay for their crimes, but when there is already evidence beyond a reasonable doubt of their guilt, then why spend money that could be better used to help the victims of natural disasters to recover? I would have been just as happy to see the American GI who discovered Saddam Hussein simply toss a grenade in that Spider hole and forget about him, but that's probably why I'm not in a position to make these calls!

Missing soldier searches expand to WWII

BAULER, Germany, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- An unheralded U.S. military unit says it is trying to account for more than 84,000 Americans still listed as missing from the nation's previous wars.

The 400-member Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, based at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, had for the most part concentrated on finding the remains of U.S. soldiers unaccounted for in the Vietnam War....

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Recluse found to be UK war heroine after her death

LONDON – Her secret is out. But it is too late for Eileen Nearne to bask in the glory Britain loves to bestow on its World War II heroes.

She died alone, uncelebrated, on Sept. 2 of a heart attack at age 89. Only on Tuesday did the nation learn of her bravery behind enemy lines: She went on a clandestine mission to France in 1944 at the tender age of 23 to operate a wireless transmitter that served as a vital link between the French resistance and war planners in London.

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