WW TWO & NORMANDY 80 YEARS LATER
Canada entered the war in September 1939. Families from that era remember the thousands of men who lined up at the recruiting stations volunteering, so many that they were sent home and were assigned dates to return.
Many of us have friends/relatives who were there on the beaches of Normandy. The Allied Invasion was a massive undertaking involving numerous countries, consuming years of preparation.
Historians point out that ignoring Hitler's advance on Europe made defeating the Nazi's that much more difficult with the unnecessary loss of countless lives.
We honor those who served and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to bring peace to Europe.
Photo credit to Britannica
So many in fact that there weren't enough uniforms and equipment, that is when Canada cranked up the supply chain, much of it accomplished by women.
America entered the war after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.
"In the front row of a crowd of thousands were 13 Canadian veterans in military uniform, the oldest of them 104 years old, who survived the war effort on the same beach so many decades ago."
"He said [Justin Trudeau] the world owes it to the veterans who sacrificed so much for our collective freedom to continue standing up for democracy every day."
"Our way of life didn’t happen by accident, and it won't continue without effort," he said.
"Democracy is still under threat today. It is threatened by aggressors who want to redraw borders. It is threatened by demagoguery, misinformation, disinformation, foreign interference."
"Around 160,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches that fateful day 80 years ago to begin an effort now remembered as the beginning of the end of the Second World War.
In all, 4,414 Allied troops were killed the first day of the invasion.
June 6 marked just the beginning of the bloody 77-day Battle of Normandy and the start of the Allied liberation of France.
In the end, the toll was enormous: 73,000 Allied forces were killed and 153,000 wounded. Around 20,000 French civilians were also killed, many as a result of Allied bombings of French villages and cities."
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