June 6... D-day articles.

[Pikache]

http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=47DF7629-51AC-4598-9565-452851FC69A4

Prime Minister‘s presence angers some veterans

Chris Wattie
National Post, with files from the Ottawa Citizen


Friday, June 06, 2003

CREDIT: The Canadian Press

A member of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion takes part in a training jump at Ringway, England, in 1944.


CREDIT: Warrant Officer Jean Blouin, Department of National Defence

VETS GATHER IN NORMANDY TO OPEN D-DAY MUSEUM: War veteran Jan de Vries of Pickering salutes after laying a wreath at the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion memorial during a ceremony yesterday in Lemesnil, France.

ADVERTISEMENT


When ceremonies begin today to mark the anniversary of D-Day, Canadians will be the first on the ground -- just as they were 59 years ago.

A group of Canadian Forces paratroopers will kick off today‘s remembrance ceremonies in France by dropping into the same Normandy fields where the men of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion landed on June 6, 1944, hours before the main body of troops stormed ashore on the beaches in the largest amphibious attack in history.

Hundreds of Canadian veterans and dignitaries, including Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister, will be present to open the Juno Beach Centre, a museum and memorial to Canadian troops who fought in the Second World War.

Many veterans say they resent the Prime Minister‘s presence at today‘s opening ceremonies because in their view, Ottawa gave little support to the project.

On D-Day, 130,000 men, thousands of vehicles and tonnes of supplies launched in an attack supported by the largest naval armada ever assembled and fleets of thousands of fighters and bombers.

Of the five beaches where troops landed, one was entirely Canadian: Juno Beach. Historians have called Juno Beach one of the greatest feats of Canadian arms in the war. Canada‘s troops gained more ground than any other Allied forces on D-Day, with only moderate casualties.

The Third Canadian Division broke through heavy German opposition just inland of the beach and captured or advanced within sight of nearly all their objectives, the only Allied army to do so on D-Day.

On the ground waiting for the paratroopers today will be a handful of the survivors of the original parachute battalion, including Jan de Vries, 79, of Pickering, Ont.

"We were in France six hours before the rest of the army hit the beach," Mr. de Vries said yesterday in an interview from Caen, France.

"My company was the first one in ... We were supposed to land in one field and secure the drop zone for the rest of the battalion," he said. "But of the 120 men in the company, only 35 could be found. And we had to accomplish all our objectives with just those 35 men."

But, he adds with satisfaction: "We did it anyway."

Until today, there has been no official Canadian memorial centre to mark the place where 340 Canadians soldiers were killed and another 574 were wounded.

"There are a few plaques here and there, but nothing to really tell Canada‘s story," he said. "That wasn‘t right."

So the D-Day veterans, largely backed by corporate sponsors such as Wal-Mart Canada and private donors, started the four-year process of building the $6.1-million Juno Beach Centre.

Mr. de Vries will join hundreds of his former comrades today at the official opening of the Juno Beach Centre by Mr. Chrétien, a ceremony that has left many veterans bitter.

He said that while the Prime Minister will be speaking at the opening today, his government deserves little of the credit for the four-year drive to establish a Canadian presence at the site of one of the most important battles in the Second World War.

"Canada has done very, very little to help get this off the ground," he said. "It was only toward the end, when the government saw that this was going to happen, that they got on board."

Almost a third of the funding for the centre came from private sources, although provincial governments also chipped in, including $1-million each from Ontario and British Columbia.

The federal government initially gave only $1-million, less than the French government.

After prominent veterans criticized Ottawa for not giving more, earlier this year another $1-million contribution was announced, along with $500,000 for today‘s opening ceremonies and another $275,000 for the centre‘s annual operating costs.

However, even with the recent federal contribution, the centre still does not have enough money to finish the work. Its "inner workings," including displays and an interactive Web site, will not be ready until next year.

"It really is a veterans‘ project. It isn‘t something the federal government has been in on at all," said Cliff Chadderton, chairman of the National Council of Veterans‘ Associations.

"The federal government showed no interest and certainly no financial interest in the project -- until the proposition was put to [Mr.] Chrétien that there would be an opportunity for him to come here ... [then] we began to hear that there might be some money."

But Mr. de Vries said he is looking forward to the opening ceremonies and particularly to the recreation of his 1944 drop into the green Norman fields.

Captain Dave Beatty, of the Canadian Forces‘ Parachute Centre, in CFB Trenton, Ont., will be co-ordinating the recreation of the 1st Parachute Battalion‘s jump into Nazi-occupied France.

"We‘ll be landing in a field opposite the Canadian cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer," he said. "Almost exactly the same distance inland as the Canadian Parachute Battalion dropped in 1944."

"It‘ll be a mass jump out of a CC-130 [Hercules]," he said, adding ruefully: "If you can call 36 guys a ‘mass drop‘ ... There were something like 10,000 jumpers in the air on D-Day."

He said his paratroopers, including representatives from the regular forces and reserve regiments that fought on Juno Beach, will take off from Britain and follow the same flight path that their historic counterparts did on the night of June 5, 1944.

Capt. Beatty said the modern soldiers are particularly looking forward to meeting the veterans after the drop -- and he said it was only with difficulty that he was able to dissuade the elderly former paratroopers from making one last jump themselves.

"Yeah, I just about had to beat Jan away from my aircraft with a two-by-four," he said with a laugh. "He was all ready to grab my ‘chute and go ... he‘d rather be jumping in, I‘m sure."

However Mr. de Vries said sombrely that many of the graves in the two main Canadian military cemeteries near Juno Beach contain his friends and comrades.

"A lot of fellows were just shot out of hand when they were captured -- murdered, I guess is the word for it -- by the SS," he said.

Of the more than 600 Canadian paratroopers who jumped into Normandy on D-Day, Mr. de Vries said only 187 returned safely to England that fall after the three months of bloody fighting to secure and later break out of the beach head.

"All the rest were either killed, wounded or captured," he added quietly.

cwattie@nationalpost.com

© Copyright 2003 National Post

 

[Pikache]

http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=7952BCF1-99EE-474F-8077-B3924C106DD5

Lost behind enemy lines


Special to the National Post


Friday, June 06, 2003
ADVERTISEMENT


Just after midnight on June 6, 1944, hours before the thousands of troops of the Third Canadian Division stormed ashore on Juno Beach, the 600 men of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion dropped into German-occupied France.

Among these first Canadian soldiers on the ground on D-Day was 20-year-old Private Jan de Vries of Company C.

These are his recollections:

- - -

June 5, 1944: Afternoon; windy; raining. Harwell airfield, U.K.

We marched to the lined-up aircraft and found our parachutes, which were fitted the day before. Most of the men in each of the 10-men sticks (a group of paratroops in a plane) relieved themselves on the field. Then we loaded up our equipment, weapons, ammunition, and rations. ... I carried a Sten gun, seven spare magazines, four spare magazines for the Bren gunner, a two-inch mortar and six bombs, grenades of every type, rations for two days, wire cutters, trenching tool, gas mask and water bottle. I think I went in with about 80 pounds of equipment. All this was covered over with a disposable sleeveless cloth smock to avoid the parachute lines snagging on the equipment. We put on our parachutes and were helped into the aircraft. The last man to exit the aircraft on the jump entered first.

The aircraft moved into position for flight. The Albemarle bomber, which was converted to troop carrier, had a limit of 10 men; low head room. A bomber was chosen to make the Germans think it was just another bombing raid. I sat facing the tail of the plane, knees to the back of the man in front. It was a noisy flight ... There was very little talking as we approached the French coast. ... All I recall of my own thoughts was that I would be able to carry out my orders and not let my comrades down.

We could see flashes of exploding anti-aircraft fire as we crossed the coast. We were bounced side to side as the pilot tried to avoid the anti-aircraft fire.

Someone called out: "Red light" and a rush of activity took place. The first two men opened the two halves of the cover of the bathtub-sized hole and hooked them to the sides of the aircraft. The first two men straddled the hole, feet placed on each side; the third and fourth sat at each end with legs in the hole. The rest of the stick squirmed as close as possible and waited for the green light.

It seemed forever, but the green light came on; about 0010 hours on June 6, 1944.

Number 1 closed his legs and was gone, closely followed by number 2; Number 3 dove after them, followed by Number 4. Number 5 got caught up somehow and was slow to get out; others followed slowly. I believe I was Number 8 or 9. I dove out the hole worried about being at a distance from the other men in the stick.

It was very dark as I was dropping and I was looking for the ground when I landed with a thump. Quickly, I got out of my chute and made my way out of the field in which I landed. I lay beside a hedge and listened, hoping to hear men from my stick; nothing. I looked through the hedge and saw nothing I was supposed to see. I had no idea where I was.

Quietly, I moved along a cart track, wondering which direction to go. I could hear aircraft above, so I headed in the direction from which they were coming, assuming they were coming from the coast. I came to gravel roads and paved roads; moved quietly into a field, ditch, or hedge when I would hear the sound of footsteps or talking. I knew they were German patrols, since our men would have been quiet.

As I made my way, I tried to figure out what went wrong; why I was alone in a place where I could not recognize any features we had studied in the transit camp.

Just before daylight, I met three men from my platoon moving along a hedgerow. We continued together and came to a large, open area where gliders were landing. We now knew roughly where we were and headed east. We came under fire a couple of times, forcing us to jump into a ditch or drop flat to the ground. We never saw where the firing was coming from.

Keeping low, we crossed a little stream and saw our first dead body. We finally arrived late in the day at our high ground defence position, Le Mesnil crossroads, and reported to company headquarters.

The first thing I noticed on arrival at the crossroads was quite large brickworks with a high chimney and kilns. Across the road from the brickworks was an orchard. A parachute was suspended from the wires above the trees.

Out of 120 men in "C" Company who were to carry out the objectives, only 35 landed on the drop zone. The rest were scattered, like myself, or captured or killed. Some straggled in for days if they had managed to evade the Germans.

The 35 men, led by officers and NCOs, blew the two bridges, captured a German bunker and strong point, blew up a signal terminal and engaged a German headquarters while the rest of the Battalion and Division arrived.

In the actions that took place, about half of those that took part were killed or wounded. When we were told of the battles that had taken place, the four of us cursed the pilot who had dropped us so far away.

My first order on arrival at our defence position was to locate where the Germans were. This I proceeded to do, walking on the field side of the hedge leading south from where I was going to dig my trench. About halfway down the field, I saw one of our snipers laying at the edge of the field, his rifle pointing to a bush at the far side of the field. He did not answer my call as I approached. I went to step over him when I saw he was dead; a bullet hole in his forehead. I bent low and moved faster.

Further along, looking through a hedgerow, I saw what appeared to be some kind of headquarters, with many Germans milling around. This was what I was supposed to find. I quickly returned to our lines and reported the location of the Germans and where I had found our dead sniper. The information must have quickly been sent to the Navy in the Channel, which was our initial artillery. It wasn‘t much later that we could hear the big shells whistling overhead. On a subsequent patrol, I found that the house that the Germans had used as a headquarters was destroyed and no sign of German troops.

My D-Day was completed digging my slit trench in the dark in preparation for German counter attacks and shelling that took place the next day.

© Copyright 2003 National Post

 

[Pikache]

http://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1052251764864&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

Jun. 7, 2003. 08:49 AM



TOM HANSON/CP
D-Day veteran Roy Shaw of Barrie pays his respects to fallen comrades at the Canadian war cemetery in Beny-sur-Mer, France.

RELATED LINKS

> D-Day memorial stands tall (June5/03)

> Flash: A D-Day primer

> A D-Day vet‘s account (June, 2001)

> Juno Beach Centre

> Canadian War Museum

> Harry Palmer photo gallery: Veterans in Normandy, 1989



`A sorrowful day‘
Aging warriors return to Juno Beach to honour the fallen

Chrétien, Eves join ranks at unveiling of D-Day memorial


LES WHITTINGTON
OTTAWA BUREAU

Juno Beach, FRANCE—Ted O‘Hallaran played the mournful notes of Last Post yesterday for the friends who died beside him while making history on a Normandy beach 59 years ago.

The 82-year-old Toronto man — a bugler with the Queen‘s Own Rifles of Canada, just as he was when he came ashore on June 6, 1944 — stood ramrod straight in his green and red band uniform and sounded a tribute to fallen comrades.

Like many of the 1,000 Canadian veterans and their spouses who gathered here for the opening of the Juno Beach Centre commemorating Canada‘s role in the D-Day landings in Normandy, O‘Hallaran had no trouble remembering.

As was traditional with band members, he came ashore as a stretcher-bearer in the midst of the fierce machine-gun fire that left 340 Canadians dead and 574 wounded that day.

"Three of our stretcher bearers, bandsmen, were killed running up the beach. I had known them for five years, just like brothers," the retired warrant officer lamented yesterday on the sandy knoll overlooking the Atlantic.

"When anyone was hurt or wounded, we as stretcher bearers were right there with them. And the snipers, the machine-guns, would pick us off.

"It‘s a fine memorial," he said in his scratchy, deliberate voice. "But it‘s a sorrowful day."

The D-Day invasion marked the first breach in Germany‘s Atlantic defences, and eventually led to the defeat of the Nazis. U.S. and British forces stormed four other Normandy beaches that day.

More than 5,000 veterans, French citizens, officials and government leaders — including Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Ontario Premier Ernie Eves — joined for a moving ceremony to officially unveil the $10.1 million structure.

It was a day for pride and grief, of marching tunes and haunting bagpipe skirls. During two minutes of silence, tears flowed as the veterans stood in their medal-bedecked blue blazers and their berets and saluted — perhaps for the last time here for many of the aging warriors — their lost brothers in arms.

But there were moments of exhilaration, too. A team of Canadian Forces skydivers zigzagged earthward to deliver a large ceremonial Maple Leaf flag. Later, a vintage Spitfire fighter aircraft roared overhead and a helicopter disgorged a cloud of 43,000 red poppies to rain down on the crowd — one poppy for every Canadian who died in World War II.

Chrétien praised the courage and determination of the 21,000 Canadians who fought their way ashore at Normandy, saying their heroic acts form the spirit and honour of Canada.

"This sacrifice not only delivered us from the spectre of tyranny," he said. "It sealed for more than 50 years the alliance between free peoples on both sides of the Atlantic."

Chrétien, whose government has been criticized for not doing enough to help and honour veterans, said the Juno Beach Centre was long overdue.

"The world needed a memorial so that the memory and the story of Canada‘s military and civilian contributions and efforts during the Second World War would never be forgotten."

In his address, Eves recounted how the Canadian troops had pushed farther inland on June 6 than any other allied forces in the face of mounting casualties.

"That courage is something that few of us can even begin to fathom in today‘s world."

And in a reference to the famous Canadian victory in World War I, Eves said, "If Vimy Ridge was where Canada was baptized as a nation, surely Juno Beach marks our passage into adulthood."

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin wound up his speech to the veterans with a message from the French people: "We do thank you for freedom. Freedom for Normandy. Freedom for France. Freedom for Europe. Thank you very much."

The 15,000-square-foot centre, which was not fully completed for yesterday‘s opening, will house exhibits on D-Day, other Canadian battles in Europe and information on how Canadians coped on the home front during the war years.

Despite the broiling sun that had many veterans in discomfort for part of the long afternoon, the new centre was praised by veterans.

"It‘s marvellous," said Roy Clarke, 80, a Toronto veteran. "This will be an excellent learning experience for young people. They‘ll see the landing at Juno Beach ... and they‘ll be able to keep the memory going of the ones who didn‘t make it.

John Cramb, a 79-year-old navy veteran, said, "I think it‘s 60 years too late — it‘s too bad some of the boys weren‘t here to see it."