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By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Scraps. So reads the red-covered scrapbook whose yellowed pages find refuge in the care of Ron Landers of Oakville. Little does anyone know unless they crack open those yellowed pages a world of Second World War history awaits, all from a local perspective. I think there are things in there that many people in Oakville dont know, said Landers, who is currently president of the Royal Canadian Legion, General Chris Vokes Branch 486 in Bronte. During the early 1960s, a Major-General who had been at the forefront of fighting in Italy and France, in the Battle of Normandy, the liberation of The Netherlands, the signing of Germanys sur- render papers in The Netherlands and the contro- versial Battle of Falaise, was stationed in Oakville. For three years, he was the GOC (General Officer Commanding) of the Canadian Militarys Central Command, headquartered at Oakvilles Ortona Barracks. As one flips open the pages of this particular Landers family album, one is greeted by a glossy, 8x10, black-and-white photo of Major- General George Kitching. The corners are affixed with gold photo cor- ner edges and in the bottom left-hand side, the words, Corporal Tom Landers, thank you for all your help these past three years. Tom Landers was Rons dad. He was a military man who is now deceased. Tom was the generals batboy a term used widely in the military to denote an assistant. Not baseball, joked Ron. And so the red-covered scrapbook entitled Scraps, begins. It contains a contradictory assortment of old newspaper clippings clip- pings from Oakvilles newspapers of the time. There is a photo of Kitchings wife Audrey with a group of women making carnations for an Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospitals Womens Auxiliary campaign, after Kitching, Audrey and their children, Katherine and George, arrived in Oakville. There is a photo of Kitching reviewing cadets at Appleby College Landers notes Oakville used to have a high profile military presence and many local families (the Fords, Bogues and others) whose children moved into policing careers were of military backgrounds. There are many Defence Department photos of Kitching curling at Camp Borden, review- ing troops, accompanying the Lieutenant- Governor of Ontario in full official dress, wel- coming guards home from Cyprus even meeting the Shah of Iran on a visit to Toronto. This was all in years follow- ing the war. Yet there is also a clipping of a story about the 20th anniversary of VE Day complete with a photo of Kitching who was at the signing of Germanys surren- der papers in Holland. The photo shows Kitching in the presence of Germanys Col.-General Johannes Blaskowitz, who on May 5, 1945 surrendered his 120,000- man 25th German Army to the 1st Canadian Corps at the Hotel de Aereld at Wageningen in The Netherlands. Then a brigadier, Kitching was aide to the 1st Canadian Corps commander Lt.-General Charles Foulkes. More than a year later, Blaskowitz killed himself while awaiting trial as a war criminal. Also shown in the photo is Prince Bernard of The Netherlands. It was in June 1999, that Kitching fell ill while visiting Prince Bernard and later died, as recorded in his obituary in the military publica- tion The Army Doctrine and Training Bulletin. Kitching was the GOC for the Canadian Militarys Central Command which he over- saw from 1962 to 1965 from Oakvilles Ortona Barracks what has been more recently known as the former Oaklands Regional Centre just off Kerr Street. Kitching was among a number of generals who had settled in Oakville. Born in China in 1910, Kitchings later obit- uary reads, Major General George Kitching, one of the last surviving Canadian divisional commanders from the Second World War, passed away at his home in Saanich, British Columbia on 15 June 1999. It continues that Kitching fell ill while a guest of Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands... General Kitching served with the Canadian army for 26 years his wartime service includ- ed operations in Sicily, Italy (twice), Normandy and The Netherlands, where he was instrumen- tal in securing the surrender of German forces... Through military training in Britain and a stint with the Gloucestershire Regiment that took him to Singapore, Malay and India, he resigned and moved to Canada in 1938 where he joined the Royal Canadian Regiment in 1939 and headed oversees with the first contingent. w w w . o a kv ill eb ea ve r.c o m O A KV IL LE B EA V ER Fr id ay , N ov em be r 1 2, 2 01 0 2 6 Oakville general was eyewitness to history LivingOakvilleBeaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN Phone: 905-337-5560 Fax: 905-337-5571 e-mail: ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com SURRENDER SIGNED: As appeared in the Daily Journal-Record, Friday, May 7, 1965 Major-General George Kitching, general officer com- manding Central Command, Oakville is seen in this group picture of the surrender of the 25th German Army 20 years ago today. Seated, left, holding the surrender terms is Col.-Gen. Johannes Blaskowitz, commanding the German forces and an aide. On the right, Lieut.-Gen. Charles Foulkes, then 41, commander of the 1st Canadian Corps sits with hands folded. To his right is Major-General George Kitching of Oakville, then a brigadier on the 1st Canadian Corps staff. The lieutenant wearing the black beret is an unnamed interpreter. On his left, is Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands smoking a cigarette. The surrender was signed at Wageningen, about 10 miles from Bremen. See War page 27 He (General George Kitching) was a participant and eyewitness of some of the most significant events of this century, and as such, will remain a key figure in the history of the Canadian army. General George Kitchings obituary in The Army Doctrine and Training Bulletin Gen. George Kitching