Opinion: “We will remember them”

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D-Day, June 6, 1944: Seventy-five years ago today, the long-awaited Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe had begun. The nation held its breath. Would it succeed or be another Dieppe? Calgarians awoke to the news of the invasion.  At 11:20 a.m. (Calgary time) a crowd of 15,000 gathered on 1st street between 7th and 8th avenues. It was a somber affair, many had family and friends in the fight. The Herald reported that a military band played O Canada and 15,000 voices swelled in a mighty chorus and “prayed for the Allied victory (with) many tear stained cheeks.”

D-Day had finally arrived. It is history’s greatest invasion. An armada of 11,000 aircraft and 6,000 ships would land 150,000 soldiers/paratroops at five beaches in Normandy, France: Utah and Omaha (U.S.), Sword and Gold (British) and Juno (Canadian).

At midnight, about 30,000 paratroopers, including 600 Canadians, jumped to seize key bridges, crossroads and cause havoc.

The invasion began at first light with the largest naval and air bombardment in history.

About 14,000 Canadian assault troops were supported by 110 Royal Canadian Navy warships and 15 RCAF Spitfire and Typhoon squadrons. Juno would be a tough nut to crack; only Omaha had more enemy guns. Casualties would be high, but the Canadians were eager to go and start the liberation of Europe.

The first wave of about 50 landing craft (30 men each) hit the sand at 7:30 a.m. Soldiers bowed like pack mules with 60 kilograms of kit, grenades, ammunition and weapons stumbled into the surf. The Germans opened fire. At that moment, Charley Martin, of the Queen’s Own Rifles, recalled he had never felt so all alone. Martin’s platoon was decimated by machine-gun fire yet he found the courage to continue the fight, but he was forever haunted by the friends he left in the surf. The Canadians needed help.

Suddenly around 8 a.m., Sherman tanks came ashore, hammering German defenders. The second wave landed and the Canadians moved inland, advancing further than our Allies. The cost was heavy: 359 killed, 700 wounded and 47 prisoners (second to Omaha). The landing had succeeded, but the Canadians knew the trouble loomed. The vaunted panzers (German tanks) were coming.

Kurt Meyer, infamous commander of the 12th SS Panzer Division “Hitlerjugend,” boasted that his panzers would drive the “little fishes” into the sea. The Canadians cocked their guns. The fate of the invasion swayed in the wind.

Capt. Joseph David Dobbs was there. Taber-born, he enlisted in 1940 and landed with the artillery on D-Day. Meyer’s soldiers hit the Canadians at Putot-en-Bessin on June 8. The battle was brutal and Dobbs was killed by shell fire. But the “little fishes” proved formidable. The Germans got a bloody nose and the beaches were saved. D-Day was the beginning of the Third Reich’s end. Eleven months later, the war ended and the liberators came home.

Joseph Dobbs was 37 and is buried with his comrades in France. His sacrifice is commemorated each November in Calgary’s Field of Crosses beside 3,400 southern Albertans who made the ultimate sacrifice serving Canada. We hope you will join us this November for a special commemoration of over 400 southern Albertans commemorated in the Field of Crosses who, like Capt. Dobbs, made the ultimate sacrifice in 1944. We owe them our gratitude.

Seventy-five years ago, war-weary Calgarians prayed that D-Day would end the Nazi horror. Their prayers were answered. Today, let’s remember those brave young Canadians who stormed Juno Beach and changed the course of history. Soldiers like Joseph Dobbs, who did not come home to the warm embrace of his wife and two young daughters. The Field of Crosses is their homecoming. Let us pledge to never forget the gift of freedom they gave … on this, the anniversary of that Day of Days.

Please support the Field of Crosses so that future generations “Never Forget.”

www.fieldofcrosses.com/donation/

We will never forget.

Thomas Leppard is executive director of Calgary’s Field of Crosses.