D-day 80th anniversary recognized with raising of flag that flew on Juno Beach

The Niagara-on-the-Lake branch of the Royal Canadian Legion marked the 80th anniversary of the allied invasion of Normandy Thursday, recognizing a momentous occurrence in history that is considered to have led to the world as we know it.

“D-Day,” says veteran and legion member Doug Johnson, “was not the end of the Second World War, but it was the beginning of the end.”

Johnson was one of about a handful of legion members taking part in the short, sombre service at the Queen Street cenotaph, with a small crowd gathered to watch. A flag was lowered and folded at the cenotaph and a wreath laid, followed by the playing of Last Post and Reveille during the minutes of silence. Johnson then helped raise a second Canadian flag, which was symbolic because it had flown at the Juno Beach Centre, he said, and sent to legion branches for a small donation to a fundraiser.

The centre, which opened June 6, 2003 as a Canadian memorial to D-Day and has seen more than one million visitors since, has recently launched a capital campaign to fund an expansion.

Johnson retired from his military career as a lieutenant colonel after his last stint in Afghanistan, he told The Local. He had served most of his career with the Lorne Scots in Brampton, his final years there as commander of the regiment, until 2000. After about a nine-year break, he signed up for six months of training in Quebec before leaving for Afghanistan, and following a 10-month tour, decided to retire for good. He also served for many years as the Aide de Camp to Ontario Lieut. Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell.

In stressing the importance of D-Day events, he said the landing on Juno Beach was in response “to one man who had convinced his country that they were superior to everyone else, and was determined to take over Europe. He discriminated against Jewish people, in fact against anyone else who he considered to be ‘not pure,’ and put them in prison camps. Our reason for being in Normandy was to free up the continent from German occupation, and free Jewish people from further prosecution.”

He explained that although D-Day was an essential part of that effort, the Raid of Dieppe in 1942, “an all-Canadian show,” proved to be a testing ground, he said. It also proved to be a disaster, with about half the Canadian military who took part in it either killed or captured.

When 160,000 Allied troops landed on Juno Beach two years later, they were better prepared.

About 14,000 soldiers were Canadian, said Johnson, and about 350 Canadians died. The rest, he said, moved further inland than any other allies, “and that was the start of the end of Nazi occupation.”

Johnson says he’s unsure of what students are taught in school today about the history and importance of D-Day, but he hopes they learn the role of that battle in allowing us to enjoy the freedoms we have today. “I know that was what inspired me.”