Royal Regina Rifles help recognize 79th anniversary of D-Day
It’s been 79 years since the war effort known as 'D-Day,' which eventually led to the liberation of western Europe during World War II. The day was marked with a service in Normandy with the Royal Regina Rifles on hand.
D-Day remains the largest combined land, sea and air invasion ever attempted and the effort is often credited with turning the tide of the Second World War.
Out of Canada's 1,096 total causalities on D-Day, the Regina Rifles sustained 102.
Lt.-Col (retired) Ed Staniowski spoke with CTV Morning Live from what was once a German bunker near Juno Beach.
“It’s pretty special to be here and I had a chance to be here with some of the veterans who sadly have since passed away, as you know it’s been 79 years, but a special statue will be erected for them next year on the 80th anniversary which will be a very big event,” Staniowski said.
Having served in the military himself, Staniowski said it always tugs on his heartstrings to visit the historic site.
“I think of the sacrifice that those young men from Saskatchewan and all across Canada made when they landed here on Juno Beach to liberate France and onto Belgium and then onto the Netherlands,” he said.
Staniowski said hearing the continued appreciation from current day residents of Normandy, Belgium and other parts of Europe always resonates with him.
“These are wonderful people in Normandy and in Belgium and in Holland and it really resonates with those of us here from Canada and get to hear stories first hand.”
In Regina, a ceremony was held in front of city hall to commemorate one of the most important days in the history of the Rifles.
A display of courage and heroism that still inspires members of the Rifles, nearly 80 years later.
“The soldiers of the Regina Rifle Regiment, as it was known then, good old farm boys from across Saskatchewan, known as the Farmer Johns, knew how to pick up that fight, and assault those beaches and fight inland further than any of the other Allied forces that day,” Lt.-Col Kyle Clapperton, commanding officer of the Royal Regina Rifles, said in his speech.
Anyone who wishes to donate to 'Operation Calvados' the Rifles' effort to erect a statue on Juno Beach for the 80th anniversary of the landings, can find the fundraiser here.
German prisoners taken by Canadian troops at Juno Beach, D-Day, during the invasion of Europe, on June 6, 1944. THE CANADIAN PRESS/National Archives of Canada, Frank L. Dubervill, PA-133754.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
College students, inmates and a nun: A unique book club meets at one of America's largest jails
An unconventional book club inside one of America's largest jails brings college students and inmates together to tackle books that resonate with the mostly Black and Latino group members.