Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson paid tribute to Canadian soldiers who helped liberate Holland during a ceremony at the Groesbeek Canadian war cemetery in the Netherlands.

Hundreds of veterans of the campaign, along with dignitaries from Canada and Holland, gathered under light rain and grey skies Tuesday. They stood before row upon row of white gravestones in the largest cemetery of Canadian war dead in the Netherlands.

Clarkson thanked the Canadians for the sacrifices they made in helping the Allies triumph over Hitler's Germany in 1945, ending great hardship for the Dutch.

"You deserve every honour you get and every attention that is paid," she told the crowd of about 8,000.

Clarkson thanked Dutch Queen Beatrix for attending, remarking that the liberation created bonds of eternal friendship between Canada and the Netherlands.

"With the Dutch people we share blood and we share remembrance."

"As a family, we stood together against tyranny. As a family we felt each other's sacrifices. As a family we have savoured together all the lasting joys of liberation."

Clarkson called the cemetery a "beloved parcel of Canadian soil."

More than 2,300 Canadians are buried there. They died just a few months before the Second World War ended.

Veterans attending the ceremony know that if their buried friends had survived the Netherlands, they would have gone home to Canada together.

Montreal's John McConachie, who lied about his age and enlisted in 1938 when he was 17, sat just a few metres from the grave of his brother, Bill. He was visiting the grave for the first time.

"It's very touching,'' McConachie told the Canadian Press. "It's hard to believe.''

Bill Brown of Ladysmith, B.C., wept as he placed a small Canadian flag near the grave of his friend, C.T. Brown, who was killed in action Nov. 10, 1944.

"It's just sentimental for me, like going back in time,'' he told CP. "It all comes back to me.''

Second World War Veteran George Blackburn spoke to CTV's Tom Kennedy on Tuesday from the top of a windmill where, 60 years ago, he watched German troop movements just a few kilometres away.

"We wished to God the Russians at that time would get to Berlin in time to defeat (the Germans), so we wouldn't have to go back in it. But we knew that the end was going to be settled right there," said Blackburn.

The war was over within months, and Blackburn lived to tell his tale.

"The relief was tremendous," he told Kennedy.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot thanked the veterans at the service: "You defended our freedom, and we will always be grateful to you."

The service is one of many celebrations taking place across Europe this week to mark the 60th anniversary of VE-Day.

Senator Art Eggleton represented the Canadian government after Veterans Affairs Minister Albina Guarnieri was called back to Canada in case there was an emergency vote in the House of Commons.

Prime Minister Paul Martin upset veterans last month when he announced he would not be attending commemorations of the end of the Second World War in Europe this year.

On Tuesday Martin announced a deal to attend a final ceremony next Monday. The opposition leaders will go with him, agreeing that during the trip their parties will hold off on any moves that might bring down the Liberal minority government.

With reports from CTV's Tom Kennedy and The Canadian Press.