D-DAY MEMORIES
FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS FROM THOSE WHO WERE THERE.
So remembered Lieutenant John D. McLean, who landed with “B” Company of the Queen’s Own Rifles at Bernièressur-Mer on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
The invasion of Normandy, France, was one of the key moments in the Second World War. A successful landing would mark the beginning of the end for Hitler’s Third Reich.
The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division was one of the assault formations at the forefront of the invasion. By the end of the day the Canadians had secured a bridgehead in France and had advanced farther than any other troops.
Of the twenty-one thousand troops that landed on Juno Beach, two-thirds were Canadian. Nearly six hundred more men landed east of the Orne River with 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion. Canada also contributed thirty-seven Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) squadrons along with 110 ships and ten thousand sailors to Operation Overlord. The invasion was a success, but the cost was high. By the end of the day, 359 Canadians were dead and 715 more wounded.
Every Canadian soldier, sailor, and airman on June 6, 1944, was a volunteer. They left behind their families and careers to go to war for an important cause. Here, in their own words, are some of the men who took part in this momentous battle.
“Suddenly the ramp went down and the men jumped into water up to their armpits. I was the seventh man out. Bullets whizzed around us and smacked into the boat and into the men. Being the centre craft, we were in the zone of concentrated crossfire. Men were being hit and disappearing into the water. [When] the chap in front of me … jumped, he went under at once…. I leaned over to haul him to the surface. At that moment, I felt as though someone had struck me with all their power with a baseball bat and I was knocked flat into the water. My left arm would not work.”