.

Few would know that Scott Young, Neil’s father, was on the crew of the Mayflower, an assault vessel taking its place in the D-Day raid on the Normandy coast.

There is a delightful story involved. A carrier pigeon landed on the poop deck of the ship, too tired no doubt to carry out its mission.  The bird was to return to the UK giving German gun positions supplied by the French Underground.

I worked with Scott in The Canadian Press office in Winnipeg before the war. At a meeting in Toronto post-war I heard him tell this story at a Press Club luncheon.

I went to several Neil Young concerts hoping to chat with him about his equally famous father, who survived the war.

The landings of the assault troops would have been impossible, had it not been for the preliminary tasks assigned to the paratroopers, seven or eight hours ahead of time.

Shortly past midnight, Tuesday, June 6, 1944, paratroopers with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion took off with 50 aircraft carrying the troops and equipment heading for France.   

Certainly one of the best known officers in the Canadian Army was Jeff Nicklin. He was Second in Command of the Canadian Paratroop Battalion, on the drop on D-Day.

Jeff, who had originally served in my own battalion, The Royal Winnipeg Rifles, is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, having played brilliantly in the Grey Cup Game in 1935, when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers became the first Western team to win the National Championship, defeating Hamilton.

On his drop, Nicklin was severely wounded by fire from a German machine gun nest. (His full story is told in The War Amps production Jeff Nicklin: Hero of the Gridiron and the Battlefield.)

The main job of these tough, hard as nails Canadian paratroopers was to capture a gigantic coastal battery at Merville.

The Canadians were also tasked to hold and destroy a number of bridges which would prevent a German counter-attack from reaching the invasion forces. The objectives were all taken.

Brian Nolan, in his book Airborne, describes one such action:

“…Norm Toseland, who was to lead a party farther east, found he had only a handful of men to blow the bridge below the tiny hamlet of Robehomme, perhaps a dozen at most…”

And Nolan explains:

“…Leaving a small patrol to watch the bridge, Lieutenant Toseland took the rest of the men to the hamlet of Robehomme where they dug in…Of all the positions, these Canadians had gone the furthest into enemy territory, dangerously exposed to counter-attack…”

As night fell on June 7th, the strength of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, that had left England only hours before, numbered 1,200. It was now down to 300 soldiers “fit to fight.” These men had to withstand a bitter 10 days during which they held off determined German counter-attacks, a job they did very, very well.

In early 1940, the enlistment of the troops who would eventually invade Europe at places such as Courseulles started. They came from the small towns, the factories, the inner cities.

They were the true citizen soldiers of World War II. Some enlisted for patriotism, some for adventure, but the majority, because it just seemed to be the right thing to do!

Little did they know then that they would end up four years later as the spearhead of the Allied invasion of Europe, either as part of the 3rd Canadian Division, or in the tank battalions, which would support the Normandy landing, designated as the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade.

They formed the assault wave that smashed through the German defences, held off the counter-attacks of the crack SS Panzer units and took, in a magnificent battle, the pivotal city of Caen.  It took a month.

The Canadian invasion forces had spent years in Britain training for the task. They had tried very hard not to think of what lay ahead. It was difficult to realize the enormity of what we would be attempting.

I was part of that force. However, when we started our assault training on the south of England and in Scotland, we began to realize what loomed before us. Untried troops would dare to set foot in Hitler’s Europe.

Everyday while in Britain, we heard stories of the heavily fortified French coast which the Germans, in four years with slave labour, had turned into a continuous system of guns, pillboxes, mines, barbed wire and, on the beaches, underwater pilings, some loaded with explosives waiting to blow up the assault crafts. It was a terrifying picture.

The men of the infantry and tank regiments chosen for the invasion simply had to disregard what lay ahead for them across the Channel. We just dug in, trained harder, determined to do what some were saying would be impossible. Then it came, June the 6th, 1944, D-Day.

With the 65th anniversary of D-Day and the Normandy Campaign fast approaching, this special section of my blog will commemorate this critical period in our military history by compiling herewith my previous D-Day entries. 

I will also continue to add new entries to this special section in the coming months as we mark this important anniversary.

Vimy Ridge has special meaning for The War Amps.  Our esteemed former National President, Padre Sidney Lambert, received his grievous wounds at Vimy Ridge, which included the loss of his leg above the knee.  Vimy Ridge also had special significance to other First World War members, many of whom fought in the battle.

To Honour Vimy, The War Amps released a documentary titled A Vimy Veteran Remembers.  It features the late Perce Lemmon, of Windsor, Ontario, who lost his leg in this battle and talks about the four Victoria Cross winners at Vimy. Their citations are listed in my last blog entry. 

The Battle

By the spring of 1917, Europe had been at war for more than two and a half years, with neither side being able to make significant gains.  As part of the Allied offensive, a major attack was planned for April in the area of Arras, France.  In this attack, the Canadians would be tasked with capturing Vimy Ridge.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge would be the first time all four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought together as one formation.  The planning and preparations for the battle were extensive.  The Canadians trained rigorously for months.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge began at 5:30 a.m. Easter Monday, April 9, 1917, with some of the heaviest artillery fire of the war.  Behind this, the first wave of 20,000 Canadian soldiers, each carrying up to 36 kilograms of equipment, advanced through the sleet and snow into the face of deadly machine gun fire. 

Battalions in the first waves of the assault suffered high numbers of casualties, but the Canadian advance proceeded on schedule.  Hill 145, as the main height on the ridge was called, was taken on the morning of April 10.  Two days later, the Canadians took The Pimple, as the other significant height on the ridge was called.  The Germans fell back, and the Battle of Vimy Ridge was over. 

The Victory

The Canadian Corps, together with the British Corps to their south, had captured more ground, prisoners, and guns than any previous British offensive of the war.  Canadians would act with courage throughout the battle.

The Memorial

Today, on land granted to Canada for all time by a grateful France, the Vimy Memorial sits atop Hill 145, rising above the now-quiet surrounding countryside.  The monument is inscribed with the names of 11,285 Canadian soldiers who were listed as missing, presumed dead in France.  It stands as a tribute to all who served their country in battle. 

As part of the pilgrimage events in April 2007, the restored Canadian National Vimy Memorial was re-dedicated in France.  It stands as a reminder of the sacrifices and achievements made during the Battle of Vimy Ridge. 

The Legacy

As I state in my closing remarks in A Vimy Veteran Remembers, a nation which ignores its past has no blueprint for the future.  April 9 is a date which should be burned into the memory of every Canadian.  When our soldiers answered the call in the 1914-18 war, it was to fight tyranny and oppression.  Maybe they did not know it, but in addition to a great victory at Vimy Ridge, they would give us something else – a truly Canadian identity.

Canada: From Colony to Nation
April 9, 1917
“Memorable Quotes”

“On July 26, 1936, tens of thousands joined the pilgrimage to Vimy Ridge to see King Edward VIII unveil the ‘Spirit of Canada.’  It was stated: ‘It is a memorial to no man, but a memorial to a nation.’”
-VAC Canada Remembers Web site

“In those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.”
-Brigadier General A.E. Ross

“A defining moment for Canada, when the country emerged from the shadow of Britain and felt capable of greatness.”
-Tim Cook, writing for the Canadian War Museum

“Canada’s military achievements during the war raised our international stature and helped earn us a separate signature on the Treaty of Versailles that ended the war.”
-VAC Canada Remembers Web site

“The fight to take Vimy Ridge cost Canada dearly, but it would become the cornerstone of the nation’s image of its place in the world.”
-Gary Graves, CBC News

“As far as I could see, south, north, along the miles of the Ridge, there were the Canadians.  And I experienced my first full sense of nationhood.”
-Lieutenant Gregory Clark, MC, Weekend Magazine (Toronto), November 13, 1967