syscom3
Pacific Historian
I never fully understood what Canada and Canadians did to liberate Europe in the Second World War until I worked for three months as a guide at the Juno Beach Centre in France.
The Juno Beach Centre is still a young museum; only six years old. It was inaugurated on June 6, 2003, to commemorate Canada's contribution in the D-Day landings and throughout the Second World War.
The centre's story is a testament to the fact that Canada is often overlooked in the telling of the war's history. Founded and still overseen by veteran Garth Webb and his partner, Lise Cooper, the centre filled a gaping hole in Normandy where the telling of Canada's war efforts should have been all along. Before the centre's inauguration, the largest Canadian monument in the area was a recovered Sherman tank which had sunk at Courseulles- sur-Mer on D-Day.
As a guide at the Juno Beach Centre, my job was to illuminate Canada's wartime contribution. The last time I'd put serious thought into the war had been in my Grade 10 history class, so my preparation for this job entailed some serious brushing up on my Canadian history.
A training week for the new guides took us to sites around Normandy, from Arromanches and Pegasus Bridge to Longues-sur- Mer and Pointe du Hoc, and to Canadian, British, American and German cemeteries. Each guide had been instructed to learn as much as they could about a soldier buried in one of the Canadian cemeteries. I chose to research George, Albert, and Thomas Westlake -- three Toronto-born brothers who all died in the Normandy campaign in June 1944, and who now rest in the Beny-sur-Mer cemetery in Reviers.
We visited La Maison des Canadiens (The Canadians' House), the iconic house on the beach in Bernières-sur- Mer that is so visible in video and photographic footage of the D-Day landings. The house, so named because it was liberated by Canadians on June 6, has been dedicated by its owners, the Hoffer family, to serve as a site of remembrance for Canadian efforts. A plaque in front of the house briefly sums up its history. Inside, photos and artifacts turn the Hoffer's home into a small museum. When Mr. Hoffer welcomed us into his house, he shook my hand and thanked me for liberating his country.
Jacques Vico, a member of the wartime French resistance, also spoke to us. His family owned the property at l'Abbaye d'Ardenne, where more than 20 Canadian prisoners of war were executed by the 12th SS Panzer division led by Kurt Meyer.
This training week, along with a lot of reading, prepared me for giving guided tours explaining Canada's contribution to D-Day and the Normandy campaign, as well as, in less detail, the entire war.
It wasn't lost on me that at the age of 22, I was older than many of the soldiers who had landed on the beach where I stood.
One British Royal Air Force veteran who participated in a guided tour I led put things nicely into perspective. He asked my age, then chuckled and said that by the time he was 22 he had already served four years and been honourably discharged from service.
And a Canadian visitor reminded me of the reality that Canada is at war today, when she told me that she was a Memorial Cross mother. She and her son had been planning a trip to visit Juno Beach. He had been killed in Afghanistan, but she decided to make the trip herself, in his honour.
Meeting visitors from around the world, and Canadian visitors for whom visiting the Juno Beach Centre was a sort of pilgrimage, made my job about so much more than just relating facts and figures.
I was struck by how impressed the visitors, particularly the French, were with the museum. They enjoyed speaking with the young Canadian guides. But one thing they consistently said was that they hadn't realized the huge contribution Canada had made in the Second World War.
Reflecting on the controversy surrounding France's perceived snub of British contributions to the Normandy invasion, it isn't a stretch to say that in my experience, the dominant perception of the war on the part of the French people is that the liberation of France was indeed a "Franco-American" affair, with supporting roles played by the British -- and to a much lesser extent, the Canadians.
But Canada did make an exceptional contribution to the war, especially considering its small population and relatively new status of legislative independence from Britain. And even though I didn't personally contribute to Canada's efforts in the war, I always felt a sense of pride when visitors would exit the museum expressing surprise and respect for the huge scale of Canada's Second World War involvement.
It would be wrong to say Canada is forgotten in France. In the area surrounding the beach code-named Juno, where 14,000 Canadian soldiers landed on that June 6 morning, the Normans are grateful to Canada, and are active in preserving that memory. Canadian cemeteries are kept in impeccable condition. Monuments to Canadian regiments dot the towns and villages along the coast.
On June 5, schoolchildren in Bermières-sur- Mer held their own ceremony to honour the Canadians who landed on D-Day. And an association called Amis de Juno Beach (Friends of Juno Beach) exists with the sole purpose of commemorating Canadian wartime efforts.
Recognition of Canadian efforts may seem a bit quieter, and a bit more subdued than that of the Americans. But isn't that just quintessentially Canadian?
Bronwyn Roe is a Kitchener resident who recently completed a three-month work term at the Juno Beach Centre in France.
The Juno Beach Centre is still a young museum; only six years old. It was inaugurated on June 6, 2003, to commemorate Canada's contribution in the D-Day landings and throughout the Second World War.
The centre's story is a testament to the fact that Canada is often overlooked in the telling of the war's history. Founded and still overseen by veteran Garth Webb and his partner, Lise Cooper, the centre filled a gaping hole in Normandy where the telling of Canada's war efforts should have been all along. Before the centre's inauguration, the largest Canadian monument in the area was a recovered Sherman tank which had sunk at Courseulles- sur-Mer on D-Day.
As a guide at the Juno Beach Centre, my job was to illuminate Canada's wartime contribution. The last time I'd put serious thought into the war had been in my Grade 10 history class, so my preparation for this job entailed some serious brushing up on my Canadian history.
A training week for the new guides took us to sites around Normandy, from Arromanches and Pegasus Bridge to Longues-sur- Mer and Pointe du Hoc, and to Canadian, British, American and German cemeteries. Each guide had been instructed to learn as much as they could about a soldier buried in one of the Canadian cemeteries. I chose to research George, Albert, and Thomas Westlake -- three Toronto-born brothers who all died in the Normandy campaign in June 1944, and who now rest in the Beny-sur-Mer cemetery in Reviers.
We visited La Maison des Canadiens (The Canadians' House), the iconic house on the beach in Bernières-sur- Mer that is so visible in video and photographic footage of the D-Day landings. The house, so named because it was liberated by Canadians on June 6, has been dedicated by its owners, the Hoffer family, to serve as a site of remembrance for Canadian efforts. A plaque in front of the house briefly sums up its history. Inside, photos and artifacts turn the Hoffer's home into a small museum. When Mr. Hoffer welcomed us into his house, he shook my hand and thanked me for liberating his country.
Jacques Vico, a member of the wartime French resistance, also spoke to us. His family owned the property at l'Abbaye d'Ardenne, where more than 20 Canadian prisoners of war were executed by the 12th SS Panzer division led by Kurt Meyer.
This training week, along with a lot of reading, prepared me for giving guided tours explaining Canada's contribution to D-Day and the Normandy campaign, as well as, in less detail, the entire war.
It wasn't lost on me that at the age of 22, I was older than many of the soldiers who had landed on the beach where I stood.
One British Royal Air Force veteran who participated in a guided tour I led put things nicely into perspective. He asked my age, then chuckled and said that by the time he was 22 he had already served four years and been honourably discharged from service.
And a Canadian visitor reminded me of the reality that Canada is at war today, when she told me that she was a Memorial Cross mother. She and her son had been planning a trip to visit Juno Beach. He had been killed in Afghanistan, but she decided to make the trip herself, in his honour.
Meeting visitors from around the world, and Canadian visitors for whom visiting the Juno Beach Centre was a sort of pilgrimage, made my job about so much more than just relating facts and figures.
I was struck by how impressed the visitors, particularly the French, were with the museum. They enjoyed speaking with the young Canadian guides. But one thing they consistently said was that they hadn't realized the huge contribution Canada had made in the Second World War.
Reflecting on the controversy surrounding France's perceived snub of British contributions to the Normandy invasion, it isn't a stretch to say that in my experience, the dominant perception of the war on the part of the French people is that the liberation of France was indeed a "Franco-American" affair, with supporting roles played by the British -- and to a much lesser extent, the Canadians.
But Canada did make an exceptional contribution to the war, especially considering its small population and relatively new status of legislative independence from Britain. And even though I didn't personally contribute to Canada's efforts in the war, I always felt a sense of pride when visitors would exit the museum expressing surprise and respect for the huge scale of Canada's Second World War involvement.
It would be wrong to say Canada is forgotten in France. In the area surrounding the beach code-named Juno, where 14,000 Canadian soldiers landed on that June 6 morning, the Normans are grateful to Canada, and are active in preserving that memory. Canadian cemeteries are kept in impeccable condition. Monuments to Canadian regiments dot the towns and villages along the coast.
On June 5, schoolchildren in Bermières-sur- Mer held their own ceremony to honour the Canadians who landed on D-Day. And an association called Amis de Juno Beach (Friends of Juno Beach) exists with the sole purpose of commemorating Canadian wartime efforts.
Recognition of Canadian efforts may seem a bit quieter, and a bit more subdued than that of the Americans. But isn't that just quintessentially Canadian?
Bronwyn Roe is a Kitchener resident who recently completed a three-month work term at the Juno Beach Centre in France.
