VICTORIA, Canada--Sixty years ago this week, on May 4, 1945, Canadian troops began pouring into the Netherlands—and not a moment too soon. By April of that year, food supplies in the country were virtually exhausted and the country was on the verge of mass starvation. People had resorted to eating dirt and tulip bulbs to survive.

On April 29, the first food packages were dropped by Allied planes. Less than a week later the Nazis surrendered and it was all over. The Canadian soldiers, greeted by cheers and tears, threw candies to the crowd. Overjoyed Dutch threw flowers into the path of the army vehicles. After 5 years of occupation and 200,000 dead, Holland was liberated at last.

Five days later, VE Day (Victory in Europe) was officially declared. Jubilant crowds took to the streets to celebrate the end of the world’s most destructive war. From Paris to New York, from Moscow to Melbourne, people sang and danced, total strangers hugged and kissed, bands played and wine was quaffed. In London, Winston Churchill was surrounded by adoring Britons as he made his way through Parliament square. U.S. President Truman gave a speech to the largest radio audience in history, and in Moscow a thousand howitzers fired off 30 triumphant rounds in unison.

Bonfires, parades and fireworks were the order of the day in Toronto. Flags and bunting waved in the breeze, car horns blared and tickertape abounded. Three planes dropped bags of paper which fluttered down and mingled with the paper and confetti being thrown from building windows below. Churches of all denominations held thanksgiving services.

Victory was sweet, but for many around the world the carnival atmosphere was tempered by the memory of the terrible toll the war had taken. Most of Europe and much of Asia were reduced to rubble. 35 million were dead, and Japan still hadn’t surrendered. But the threat of Nazi Germany was gone. The curtain was finally lowering on a painfully long act of sheer madness.