A quiet renovation project in a small Dutch church has uncovered a powerful link to the past — and sparked an emotional journey for a Canadian man.
Don Drissell, from Ladysmith, B.C., recently travelled to the village of Groesbeek after receiving an unexpected message.
Crews working in the attic of a local church had discovered something unusual: a handwritten pencil inscription on a wooden beam, dating back to the Second World War.
The name on it? Sergeant W.R. Drissell — Don’s father.
Kneeling on a wooden walkway Monday in the attic of the church, Drissell said there was no mistaking the penmanship.
“I recognize this as being my dad’s writing,” said Drissell. “I can tell by the shape of the letters and the way they’re all spaced properly. That’s Dad.”
The inscription, only slightly faded after 80 years, reads: “Sgt. W.R. Drissell, Cpl. A. Langford, Toronto Scottish Regiment, M.G., Canadian Army, 14 December, 1944.”
The markings were made in pencil and were uncovered during attic renovations in 2023.
The beam was part of a railing that was being replaced. It was removed while the work was conducted but then returned.
Local resident Frank Thijssen gave Drissell the tour and says the plan is to cover the inscription to preserve it.
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Drissell was in the Netherlands last spring as part of “In Our Fathers’ Footsteps,” a Canadian pilgrimage for descendants of soldiers who served there during the Second World War. The journey was designed to retrace the footsteps of the Canadian liberators and to help families connect with their relatives’ legacies.
For Don, that connection came in Monday’s visit to Church of Saints Cosmas and Damianus in Groesbeek.
Drissell’s father, William, died in 2003. Like many veterans, he seldom spoke about his wartime experiences, and Don knew little about his service. But when he arrived at the church attic, everything became personal.
“It’s actually overwhelming, to think that my dad was actually here,” Drissel said.
Groesbeek is located just a few kilometers from the German border, and was a key location in the winter of 1944 to early 1945. Canadian forces helped liberate the town in September 1944 and used it as a forward base for operations during the final push into Nazi-occupied territory.
The Church of Saints Cosmas and Damianus likely served as a lookout post. Its attic offered a sweeping view of the region, with discreet peepholes still visible in the walls today.
“This was a strategic high point,” said Thijssen. “But it was also dangerous. If the enemy suspected it was being used by Allied forces, they could have shelled it.”
Archival photos from February 1945 show German POWs being marched directly past the church — further evidence of how central the location was during the conflict.
The church already featured a modest display about the discovery, but Thijssen plans to expand it.
Drissell left photos and newspaper clippings about his father’s military service. He also left a Toronto Scottish Regiment cap badge from his father that Drissel said he’d like to have mounted over the beam.
“I’m just pretty overwhelmed,” Drissell says. “It’s surreal that I’m standing in the same spot where my dad was during the war.”
For many participants in In Our Fathers’ Footsteps, the pilgrimage offered powerful moments of reflection and remembrance. But for Don Drissell, it became something more — a reunion with a father he thought he’d never know this closely.
“I’m sure he’s just smiling up there in heaven,” he said.
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