From Dutch to 'Dutch': A Country Shows Its Gratitude

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Source: Washington Missourian on-line edition
05/27/2005
From Dutch to 'Dutch': A Country Shows Its Gratitude
By Karen Cernich

Sixty years after Allied forces liberated the Netherlands, a young Dutch girl reached out to shake the hand of U.S. Army Air Corps S/Sgt. Duthiel "Dutch" Borcherding as he rode through the streets of her town earlier this month in a parade honoring the veterans. It was her way of saying, "Thank you," to a soldier who helped save her country from Nazi control.
The girl wasn't alone. Throngs of young children showed their enthusiasm for the Allied veterans, said Borcherding, Washington.



"All of the kids would run up to me to shake my hand or give me a high five," he remarked. "Then if the parade stopped for a minute, the moms and dads would take a picture of the kids shaking my hand."