called Hotel de la Marine:
My room looked out over the bay where the Mulberries
still poke out of the surf. I shall never forget it.
Posted on 06/05/2003 9:18:00 AM PDT by eBelasco
COURSEULLES-SUR-MER, France—Red and white Maple Leaf flags line the road that leads through this quiet French fishing port down to the beach where 21,000 Canadians fought their way ashore on D-Day, 59 years ago tomorrow.
For decades, the strip of sand on the Atlantic — code-named Juno Beach — where many Canadians died in the face of enemy fire in 1944 has been too little remarked. But tomorrow more than 700 of Canada's veterans and thousands of French residents will join Prime Minister Jean Chrétien for the official opening of a long-awaited memorial in Normandy.
Under leaden skies yesterday, workers were urgently laying out rows of wooden benches for the ceremony and putting the final touches on the new Juno Beach Centre in preparation for the veterans' arrival. Built at a cost of $10.1 million, the centre is an abstract, jutting metal and glass structure in the configuration of a Maple Leaf overlooking the invasion beach. In front of it stands a stark, 2.4-metre high bronze sculpture entitled Remembrance and Renewal.
"This is for all Europe to see and remind them that we, as volunteers, came here to help restore their freedom," said Ted Davie, a director of the Juno Beach Centre Association and the man in charge of tomorrow's event.
"And this is for our people, when they come to France now, to have a focal point and to be sure that the people of Canada will not forget what they did."
But the 1,350-square-foot centre is not just a monument to one battle. It has been designed as a living testimony to the sacrifices made by all Canadians — on the battlefront and the home front — during World War II.
The exhibits contained in the centre include displays on life in Canada in the 1930s and the rapid changes faced by Canadians in the early years of the war, as well as accounts of the main Canadian military campaigns in Europe. There is also a short film on the Canadian D-Day landing at Juno Beach.
"We wanted to build a centre here with the idea of remembering the army, navy, air force, merchant navy and the home front ... for all six years of our involvement in the war," said Davie, a retired navy veteran who lives near Kingston.
"The veterans have waited 59 years for people to recognize what they did in World War II and not enough has been done up until now."
CBC Newsworld will broadcast live coverage of the centre's opening tomorrow, beginning at 11 a.m. Toronto time.
How's that? Certainly a place not to be missed.
My sibs and I have our reservations all lined up for the 60th anny events next June 6, taking our 82 yo Uncle who landed on Omaha. We went a couple of years ago, wanted to take the Chunnel over from London, but our Uncle insisted on taking a boat, 'like the last time'. :>)
My room looked out over the bay where the Mulberries
still poke out of the surf. I shall never forget it.
FMCDH
I don't think there is a single family in Canada that wasn't directly affected by the war. One of my childhood neighbours was a former operative from the Office of Dirty Tricks and an uncle of mine was with the RCNVR, doing convoy escort duty on the Murmansk run.
Have been there several times, including a trip in April this year. The older folks in Normandy remember the Yanks, and the younger ones seem to understand, and are most grateful & welcoming. Think you'd have to look pretty hard there to find the baser examples of le cheese-eatin' surrender monkeys! :>)
It was all about oil.
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