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For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations 
April 27-28, 2002:


Behind the Tulips.


The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.
 
At first glance, Canada's upcoming Tulips stamps this Friday 
appear to be just another run-of-the-mill issue: They're 
pretty and they commemorate an annual festival.


But there's more to the story than that.


During World War Two, the Dutch Royal Family took refuge in 
Canada, while more than 57-hundred Canadian soldiers died 
liberating the Netherlands.


When the war was over, the Dutch people sent 100-thousand 
tulip bulbs to Canada as a token of their thanks, and each 
year since, Canada has received 20 thousand more.


Today, there are a million flowers blooming each year at the 
National Capital Commission tulip beds in Ottawa. The Canadian 
Tulip Festival began in 1953.


This year's stamps also honor Malak <mah-LAK> Karsh, founder of 
the tulip festival and a professional photographer. The 
background of one of the stamps is his photograph of...the 
National War Memorial.


You can find more information about new Canadian stamps at Canada
Post-dot-C-A.


And that's stamp collecting this week. 


I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News.

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