Normandy A Personal Journey
by David Cale ®

It was D-Day plus 55. .The day was gray and blustery and a cold wind, blew in from the sea, typical June weather for Normandy. As It was high tide, I did not have to walk a great distance to the water's edge, so I walked straight out from the beach until I was standing, gazing out to sea, knee deep in the cold English Channel waters.

I had traveled for five days North from Paris to Dunkerque and then exploring on my way down along the coast of France to Caen, and to the D-Day invasion beaches of Normandy. Driving north I crossed the river Orne at Pegasus bridge, which marks the Eastern edge of the D Day invasion. From there it was a short drive to the beaches. First Gold and Sword Beach, where British troops landed and then my objective Juno Beach where my countrymen, Canadians, came ashore.

On a day similar to this, June 6, 1944, D-day, this six kilometer stretch of beach from Courseulles to St-Aubin sur Mer was newly christened -in blood- Juno Beach. It was here that Canadians of Toronto's Queen's Own Rifles, Regina Rifles, and Royal Winnipeg Rifles and others jumped into heavy surf and struggled ashore into the teeth of strong German resistance. Many of the German bunkers had not been destroyed by the preliminary bombardment, and until they were "silenced", these inflicted heavy losses.

Many of the Canadian Amphibious Tanks went straight to the bottom in the heavy seas, as they were not equipped to handle the heavy seas.

At the end of the day "The German dead were littered over the dunes, by their gun positions", a Canadian journalist reported. "By them, lay Canadians in bloodstained battledress, in the sand and in the grass, on the wire and by the concrete forts. ..They had lived a few minutes of the victory they had made. That was all." Three hundred and forty Canadians had given their lives. Another five hundred and seventy four had been wounded. This was just the beginning. In the days to come Canadians would see some of the bloodiest fighting of the invasion.

La Place Du Canada
One of these old bullet scarred German bunkers remains, renamed "Place du Canada." The Queen's Own Rifles memorial plaque describes the battle that day which and asks you to try to imagine what it was like.

The trouble was I couldn't and suspected that only those actually there could ever grasp what took place. I took a deep breath. The salt spray smelled of the iodine rich seaweed strewn on the beach, the surf crashed and roared, and the grey-green sea was empty of the madness of men.

I felt an impossible yearning, to have been there, to have fought evil, at a time before ambiguity, when "They" were bad and "We" were good. The last "righteous war." One that had to be fought as the possibility of the Nazis gaining world domination was quite simply, not an option that could be entertained. But was this a righteous war? Not many would argue that WW1 was, and this war after all was in a way WW1 part 2.

There is a dichotomy that fuels all wars, "them and us". Patriotism is defined by this and it is usually expressed religiously... God is on our side, and it is God's will that we fight and kill the "evildoers".

I realize now that I was yearning to have a sense of meaning that is one of wars most addictive and seductive traits. War is like heroin to many. Its most potent effects are, escape from the mundane consumer life, the rush of feverish emotion at patriotic rallies, the incredible brotherhood of the battlefield which is often more intense and meaningful than marriage, the adulation of those back home, and of course women.

Juno Beach stretched from Ver-sur-Mer to Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer . In the middle approximately half way was Berniers sur Mer where I had stopped.
It is here that I stood at the sea's edge, looking towards the land, trying to imagine what it was like for the soldiers that day. This was their view as they rushed towards the sea wall, the artillery and the machine guns of the Germans.

Juno Beach
Time seemed suspended. I had an uncanny feeling I had been here before. I walked the beach, watching as the tide took the water half a kilometre out. This beach was so familiar; but nothing beyond it. At some point I turned and walked back towards the houses lining the beach, some looking just like they had prior to the invasion.

The beach storage houses are a modern addition... you can rent one for the summer.

La Maison du Queen's Own Rifles
One of the houses that survived the invasion.

You will often see this house in footage of old WW2 film of the landings of D-Day. There it is seen just as the Landing Crafts front door open and machine gun fire cuts down a number of men.

Juno Beach is peaceful now but at times you can feel that this is "Place of Power ." Many travelers who come here experience unexpectedly powerful emotions when they arrive here. I was one of them.

A little further down the beach was the new Juno Beach Center, a museum remembering the Canadians who fought here.
http://www.junobeach.org/Centre/index.html

Nearby stands the monument symbolizing the Croix de Lorraine and commemorating the return of General de Gaulle in France
The setting sun catches the stainless steel surface making it glow in the setting sun.

Croix de Lorraine with the French Flag.