The Longest Day, Canadian Edition

Photo by Dennis Sullivan. Department of National Defence / 
National Archives of Canada, PA-132790

As a Canadian growing up in the United States, I often received good-natured ribbing about my birth country's military might.  I heard comments like, "thanks for helping us out during World War II," and, "do you guys even have an army?" throughout high school, and I didn't know enough to be able to respond.  It wasn't until I took a World War II class in college that I learned that a Canadian division took Juno Beach, one of the five D-Day beaches, and even then, that was the extent of my knowledge of the country's involvement.  I really wanted to visit Juno during our time in Normandy, but our tour only covered the two American beaches and it lasted all day so I didn't think we would have time.  Thankfully, Lee and Magge indulged me and we stopped at the beach and the Juno Beach Centre, a museum dedicated to Canada's role throughout the war, on our way back to Paris.

The Juno Beach Centre, which only opened seven years ago, is extremely well done.  It covers a huge amount of  material in an engaging fashion using multimedia and interactive exhibits.  We spent nearly two hours in the museum, but I could have easily stayed for another hour or two.  Almost everything I read or watched there was new to me, from Canada's role as England's major ally prior to the USA's and Russia's entrance, to its efforts during the Italian campaign, to the details of the Juno landing, to its contributions to the final victory in Europe.  By the end of the war, Canada had the third largest surface fleet in the world, fourth largest airforce and had over one million men serve at a time when its population was approximately eleven million.  I'm embarrassed that I did not know the extent of my home country's participation.

Sitting on a bunker with the museum in the background

After the museum, we took a quick walk out to the beach itself.  Like the Omaha and Utah beaches we had seen the day before, it was a scene of tranquility with no sign of what happened sixty-six years ago except for a handful of German bunkers.  I got goosebumps as I tried to imagine what it looked like during D-Day.  Juno was the second bloodiest beach on that day, after Omaha, with the Canadian division taking over 1,000 casualties.  Despite the tough resistance, the Canadian forces actually penetrated more deeply inland than any of the other divisions.

Juno Beach

I've now lived more than half of my life in the US, and tend to think of myself as more of an American, but it would have been impossible that day to not have been swept up in Canadian patriotism.