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THE LITTLE COAT: THE WRITTEN MEMORIES
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• Monday, April 12th, 2010
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Student Essay

Jessa Alston-O’Connor
This essay was written by an M.A. student in a Museum Practice seminar in the Department of Art History, Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University. The seminar was taught by Dr. Loren Lerner with the assistance of Dina Vescio, a M.A. graduate of the program.

In the Netherlands in 1944, Canadian bombardier Bob Elliott and his fellow soldiers surprised a 10-year-old Dutch girl with a Christmas gift that she would cherish for the rest of her life. The soldiers secretly found a local seamstress to create a double breasted coat for their ‘little soldier’, Everdina (Sussie) Cretier, using an army blanket and brass buttons from their own uniforms. They also found her a new pair of shoes, sweater, scarf and trousers. Decades later, Sussie and Bob met again as adults and were married. After enduring the years of occupation and persecution during the War, the little coat became a touching reminder of hope for Sussie, and of the Canadian soldiers who liberated Holland.
In November 2009, the memories of Bob and Sue Elliott were captured in the book The Little Coat, published by DriverWorks Ink. Over a five-year period, author Alan J. Buick had corresponded with the Elliotts by email, reliving their experiences of the war, the story of the coat, and their memories of each other. The process of bringing this kind of book to life was challenging yet immensely rewarding for Buick and publisher Deana Driver. The resulting book is not ‘based on a true story’. It recounts their memories, their story, and is as true to their lives as possible.1

The Soldier and his Little Shadow

The Elliotts met in November 1944, when Bob arrived with the 19th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery. Together with the Fort Garry Horse regiment, their mission was to defend the town of Alphen, in the Netherlands. German forces were stationed near the town on the other side of the Mass river. Sussie and the rest of the Cretier family had fled their home in Rossum one month earlier and were living in one room of a farmhouse in Allied territory (figs. 1 & 2). Sussie’s father Willem worked as a mechanic for the Canadian military, while Sussie quickly made friends with the young soldiers whom she considered her heroes.2 She would visit them every day, singing songs while sitting on the large Sexton self-propelled field gun that Bob commanded. Whenever German gun fire erupted, Bob would put Sussie inside the Sexton along with the other soldiers.3 The soldiers grew extremely fond of Sussie. The Fort Garry Horse regiment gave her a beret covered with their regiment’s badges. They also sewed military stripes on the sleeve of her ragged old coat, along with a badge from their regiment.4 Sussie’s photograph, where she appears in her military uniform, was taken in 1944 (fig. 3). Shortly thereafter, at Christmastime in 1944, Bob and the comrades gave Sussie her new winter clothes, including the cherished little coat.

Bob was Sussie’s favourite soldier and she followed him everywhere. He was her guardian angel.5 Shortly after they met, Bob decided to write Sussie’s name – his good luck charm – on the side of the soldiers’ Sexton self-propelled field gun.6 Since Sussie was her nickname, Bob inscribed the English equivalent of Everdina: Evelyne. Bob’s tribute can be seen in a patch of sunlight to his left in this 1945 photo (fig. 4).

For Bob Elliott and the other Canadian soldiers at Alphen, Sussie had become a symbol of what the war in Holland represented. She was the reason they fought, and why they sacrificed so much to liberate the Dutch people from the oppression of the Nazis.7 As an adult, Sue felt that, next to her children, the coat she received from the soldiers was the most important thing in the world to her. 8 While Bob never felt like a hero, to Sussie, he and the other soldiers were heroes who had liberated her country after five years of poverty, fear and suffering9.

The Origins of the Book

In 2004, Alan Buick, a Saskatchewan poet and songwriter performed with his wife at a Royal Canadian Legion Hall in Olds, Alberta. Among the medals, photographs, and military memorabilia that lined the walls of the hall, he noticed one item in particular: a child’s coat. After learning about the coat’s history, and the fact that Bob and Sue were both alive and had married, Buick felt that someone should write a book about this unique and touching story of a Canadian bombardier and his little Dutch ‘soldier’. “I couldn’t believe this story had lain dormant for so many years,” said Buick.10 When the Elliotts received a letter from Buick, they agreed to work with him on the book.

The creative process took time, as war recollections are painful and difficult to discuss. Buick met Bob and Sue in 2005 during one of their visits to Canada (fig. 5). Over two years, he exchanged emails with the couple, piecing together their memories.11 Buick spent thousands of hours shaping the manuscript that told their story, sending drafts back and forth to the Elliotts, who would respond with revisions.

In 2008, Buick heard an interview on the radio with a local publisher named Deana Driver. As a journalist and freelance writer for twenty-five years, she is drawn to “stories of unsung heroes.”12 Buick felt that his manuscript was just the kind of story she might publish. He was right. “It’s a unique story,” says Driver, “and it’s important to Canadian history. I’ve always been attracted to stories that educate others about history with real people. We can learn from others, and that has always intrigued me.”13

Facing the Challenges

It was a challenging task to turn the Elliotts’ story into a book. Correlating fragments of memories with historical events, battles, locations, names and dates was the biggest obstacle. “These memories are 65 years old,” Buick pointed out, “so that was the hardest task.”14 Driver also spent hours tracing Bob’s journey from battle to battle, and confirming dates. “That’s part of the job of being the editor,” she said.15 At the last minute, errors became apparent. “In some emails, dates didn’t align,” Driver explained. “We had Bob’s birth year wrong, which affected how old he was when he enlisted. He remembered being 16 in the beginning of his service, but in fact we uncovered that he had turned 16 only after enlisting,” she indicated.16

Questions of translation were also raised when trying to accurately document Sue’s memories. In one detail for the book, she explained how her father had hidden from the Germans in the eavestrough of a home before the family fled for Alphen.17 In Canada, the eavestrough of a house cannot support a person. Buick and Driver needed to dig deeper to uncover Sue’s true meaning. Was it really ‘eaves’ or did Sue imply the attic or the roof? A photo of the house where her father hid finally revealed that Dutch eaves are in fact big enough to cover a man.18 The use of visual clues was therefore essential to bridge the culture and language differences and uncover the truth.

After facts were confirmed and recollections were placed in chronological order, the story was still incomplete. During his revisions to the manuscript, Buick wanted to find ways in which to portray the thoughts and feelings of the individuals represented. This was also a personal challenge for Sue and Bob. Writing this book with Buick involved exploring the emotional side of their memories. As Driver explained:
How do you ask someone how they felt during some of the most painful and horrific experiences of their lives? How do you begin to describe it? The war was not glamorous; it was a difficult time for the Dutch and the Canadian soldiers. Sixty-five years later, these are still emotional experiences for many that lived them.”19

The Legacy of the Little Coat

The book is a touching love story between two people and two countries. For Buick, the coat is “a symbol of compassion.”20 He explains:
It’s almost a symbol for how they treated the Dutch…Now we forget; we don’t teach it in schools very often. In Holland, the war cemeteries are beautifully kept by school children who are given a grave to care for over the course of a year. But so many Canadians don’t know this history. We shy away from it, but this book will remind people (figs. 6 & 7).21

From Driver’s perspective, the book “is symbolic of the difficult, painful story of the journey towards peace. We in Canada don’t experience this today, so it’s important to recognize that some of our people did go through it.”22 She hopes that it will bring awareness to Canadians about Remembrance Day, and “the horrors that people still carry today.”23Buick’s interest in the coat inspired Bob and Sue to donate it to the Canadian War Museum in 2006. Thanks to the powerful human story it tells, the coat has become one of the museum’s most evocative artifacts.

LIST OF FIGURES

fig. 1 Sussie at age 5 (5th from right, front row), 1939, Rossum School, Holland. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)
fig. 1 Sussie at age 5 (5th from right, front row), 1939, Rossum School, Holland. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)

fig. 2 The Cretier children (Kees, Gerard, Willem Jan and Sussie), 1948. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)
fig. 2 The Cretier children (Kees, Gerard, Willem Jan and Sussie), 1948. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)

fig 3 Sussie, Holland, 1944. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)
fig. 3 Sussie, Holland, 1944. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)

fig 4 Bob beside the Sexton self-propelled gun, Holland, 1945. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)
fig. 4 Bob beside the Sexton self-propelled gun, Holland, 1945. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)

fig. 5 Sue, Bob and Alan meet, 2005. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)
fig. 5 Sue, Bob and Alan meet, 2005. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)

fig. 6 Bob Elliott on Liberation Day, Netherlands, 2005. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)
fig. 6 Bob Elliott on Liberation Day, Netherlands, 2005. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)

fig.7 Wendy Zuliana of Ontario (daughter of Bob’s friend Ernie ‘Duke’ Dawson) with Bob and Sue Elliott at a Liberation Day ceremony, Netherlands, May 2009. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)
fig. 7 Wendy Zuliana of Ontario (daughter of Bob’s friend Ernie ‘Duke’ Dawson) with Bob and Sue Elliott at a Liberation Day ceremony, Netherlands, May 2009. (Photo: Bob and Sue Elliott, and DriverWorks Ink)

NOTES

  1. Deana Driver, Telephone Interview with Jessa Alston-O’Connor, 29 Oct. 2009. This text would not have been possible without generosity of Bob Elliott, Alan Buick and Deana Driver.
  2. Alan Buick, The Little Coat (Regina: DriverWorks Ink., 2009) 102.
  3. Buick, 106.
  4. Buick, 109.
  5. Buick, 110.
  6. Sussie was a nickname given to her by her older brother Kees. Only two years old at the time, he had not been able to pronounce her real name, Everdina. Instead he would tell people her name was ‘Zusje’, the Dutch word for sister. Buick, 10.
  7. Buick, 116.
  8. Buick, 159.
  9. Buick, 99.
  10. Jodi Gillich, “A Little Coat Leads to a Big War Story,” Leader-Post, 24 Oct. 2009, {http://www.leaderpost.com/little+coat+leads+story/2151821/story.html}.
  11. Alan Buick, telephone interview with Jessa Alston-O’Connor, 29 Oct. 2009.
  12. Driver.
  13. Driver.
  14. Buick, telephone interview.
  15. Driver.
  16. Driver.
  17. Buick, 85.
  18. Driver.
  19. Driver.
  20. Buick, telephone interview.
  21. Buick, telephone interview.
  22. Driver.
  23. Driver.