Canadian veteran's wartime jeep connects families in N.B. and the Netherlands
Dutch man purchases WW II-era vehicle, tracks down family of N.B. soldier who drove it
A ray of sunshine on the steering wheel of an old jeep has helped connect two families — complete strangers located nearly 5,000 kilometres apart.
Nick Obdam, who lives in the Netherlands, likely never expected it when he made a decision to purchase a Second World War-era jeep for his family about six months ago.
"The previous owner was an old guy who had it in a shed for 30 years and he did not [drive] it a lot," Obdam said in a phone interview.
Obdam got it running. On a test drive on a sunny day, he made a discovery.
"I noticed when the sun was shining in the steering wheel, I noticed some scratching … and there was a name in [it] and the name was Buck Cyr, Campbellton, N.B. — New Brunswick."
That discovery kicked off a story almost 80 years in the making.
Claude (Buck) Cyr was born and raised in Campbellton.
In the summer of 1943, Cyr, fresh out of high school, enlisted in the army. He found himself placed with the Royal Canadian Signals Corps.
By the following spring, he was in England undergoing what he thought was more basic army training.
But Cyr was being prepared to play a crucial role in the Allied invasion of France, keeping the lines of communication on the battlefield open.
The day after the invasion, he went ashore at Normandy. He would take part in many important battles, including the capture of Caen, France, the so-called Falaise Gap breakthrough and the capture of Arnhem in the Netherlands in the spring of 1945.
His jeep was with him the whole way.
His daughter, Phyliss Roy of Campbellton, has fond memories of taking her father back to Arnhem in 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation.
During the trip, her father got a chance to sit in a war-era jeep. When Roy suggested the jeep could be his, his response was a bit puzzling.
"All he said was, 'No, mine had my name on it,'" Roy said in an interview from her home, "But I didn't ask any more because I just figured the Canadian army put his name on it."
He would make a similar remark about several other jeeps he saw on that 2005 trip.
"We didn't really know that he carved his name in the steering wheel," Roy said.
At first Obdam had trouble finding Cyr's relatives. But just before Christmas, he saw a post on Facebook of an article about Cyr's time playing hockey with the Campbellton Tigers.
Beneath that post, Roy had commented, identifying herself as his daughter.
"We, out of the blue, posted a photo of the steering wheel with the name of Buck and said, 'Yeah, I'm very sorry to bother you but we are based in Holland and I think we got your father's army jeep.'"
Roy said it didn't even seem real.
"I had a mixed bag of emotion," she said. "That was a week before Christmas.
"I was shocked. I was happy. I was sad — sad that my dad wasn't here to see it because he would have been so happy."
She was amazed that someone had owned it for 30 years and "didn't see it, and how the sunlight made it happen."
Obdam said he made the effort to track down the family because he wanted them to know the jeep was still around and running, knowing it would be an emotional thing for them.
He also wanted to get information on Cyr's wartime service. That would allow the vehicle to be restored to how it looked in 1944.
"It's now … at the restorer again and we are fully transforming it now in the Signals Division Canadian jeep, with original radio in again, and all Canadian options it had during the war," Obdam said.
"So, the previous owner, he made an American Airborne jeep from it, so it had [completely] wrong markings."
Obdam wants it to be a memorial to Cyr's service.
"A little bit of a statement to all the people who liberated us years ago in Holland," he said. "And I think … it's years ago but … you must keep history alive and, especially, these days. War is back again, almost at Europe's border."
Roy said that appreciation is something her father experienced first hand before he died.
"I know when we were over there in 2005, my dad, walking the streets, young children would come up to shake his hands. They gave him flowers. He was hugged by the older generation. He was treated, honest to God, like a hero.
"It was amazing to see. We've not seen that in Canada, but over in Holland, they truly appreciate what the Canadians did."
It's likely the connection between Obdam's family and Cyr's family will continue to grow, Roy said.
"[My dad's] great-grandson is going on a school trip next year, following the same route that he took. Nick has reached out to me to let him know … they're hoping to meet him and let him drive the jeep.
"Myself and my daughter and my brother are hoping to also go over with our families."
She's just sad her father isn't still alive to see it. Cyr died in 2018 at the age of 95.
"He would have been over there in a heartbeat," she said.
"He would have been so excited because, I know, in 2005, deep down, he was looking for his jeep."
Obdam said the jeep is already getting lots of attention in the Netherlands. Schools and seniors' homes are asking if he can visit with the vehicle.
He's very happy to now be able to share the vehicle's history.
"When you park such a car, and it doesn't matter where you park it, it draws people," he said.
