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Dispatches from the Juno Beach Centre! – Institut Historica Dominion Institute

March 9, 2012 QOR Museum Curator Leave a comment

Dispatches from the Juno Beach Centre! – Institut Historica Dominion Institute.

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Each man took their place on the bench (30 men or so). I was the last man on the boat along with my platoon officer Hank Elliot and Sgt. Frank Gaines. By 6am we were away towards Normandy. The water was choppy and rough and wasn’t long before most of the men got sea sick in the “barf bags” provided that were thrown over the side of the boat. By this time we were a couple miles from shore around 8am when we sighted land. We were uptight but steady as we headed towards shore with not a sound or movement to be seen or heard. It was almost like doing an exercise in our training on the beach in England but we knew different. As we approached the shore the boat circled then landed in a row of 10 boats ‘A’ company on the right, Baker on the left. We made our run in, in line and as we were going in there was a “swooshing’ sound. I looked up in the air above I saw rockets flying towards the beach. They had a very high trajectory. The first casualty we saw that day was a Spitfire flying low parallel to the beach. He flew into the barrage of rockets and immediately burst into flames. All that was left was small fragments. It was a terrible sight. As we got closer to the beach the marines revved their engines but our boat was on the left flank and had a damaged ruder. We drifted and landed on the extreme left flank. We ran aground and the ramps went down and we ran off the boat in hip deep water. #qor #qorofc #queensownrifles #dday #normandy #secondworldwar #ww2

On Sept 1939 our country was at war for almost 6 months. I joined the army on the sixth of June with the Queens Own Rifles of Canada. We went to NFLD and guarded Gander airport and the sea port of Botwood. After six months there, we returned to Camp Sussex, New Brunswick. We trained there until July 1941 when we sailed off to England. We trained in south of England mostly route marching and assault courses and power marching. We did amphibious training in the English Channel and land exercises for several months leading up to the D Day landings. We also trained in a lake in Scotland in the estate of Duke of Argyle. It was a very calm lake and much easier to train compared to the English Channel where many of us became sea sick. About a week before June 6 (D Day) we moved to camps near South Hampton, moving from camp to camp. Everyone was confined to barracks on the final week before we boarded the boat, no one was allowed in the camp or allowed out. We boarded the boat in the morning of June 4th 1944. The landings were scheduled to take place on the day of June 5th but due to bad weather the landings were postponed and we spent that day and night on board the ship. The weather cleared on the coast of Normandy and it was decided to try for a landing on June 6th. On the morning of June 6h we had 4 am reveille and a good breakfast right away of bacon, eggs and coffee. By 5am we were lowered down into the boats. Part of Baker company was lowered down by platform, the rest of the company were not so fortunate as we had to climb over the rail down a thick rope ladder into a small landing craft which was tossing around in the water. The British Marines tried to hold the boats steady as they could as we climbed down the ropes with full equipment: A rffle slung over our shoulders, Bren gun magazines in our pouches in our web equipment. We also carried grenades, water bottle and a haversack on our back all weighing approximately 100 pounds. #qor #qorofc #queensownrifles #secondworldwar #ww2 #rifles

Regrann from @queensownrifles - An auction at the Canadian Airborne Forces Association of Toronto annual lunch led to the sale of the Operation Varsity painting signed by 3 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion veterans for $2100. Funds will go to our Trust Fund who supports Regimental initiatives such as our museum. . . Une vente aux enchères organisée à l'occasion du dîner annuel de l'Association des forces aéroportées du Canada de Toronto a mené à la vente de la peinture de l'opération Varsity signée par trois anciens combattants du 1er Bataillon de parachutistes canadiens pour 2100 $. Les fonds iront à notre fonds fiduciaire qui soutient les initiatives régimentaires telles que notre musée. #queensownrifles #qorofc #airborne #paratrooper #32cbg #strongproudready @qormuseum - #regrann

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