NORMANDY, FRANCE -- It was a day of horror and hope.
Crossing the channel in black night and heavy rain before the surprise assault, the Canadian troops took turns heaving overboard with seasickness from rough waters.
Stanley Fields knew a large-scale Allied military operation was planned -- but he could not fathom the enormity of the co-ordinated plot unfolding on land, sea and sky as he landed on Juno Beach at 7:30 a.m. on June 6, 1944.
"It was very scary, with all the blasting going on and shells coming at you, the machine gun fire. We went like hell and once we hit the beach as far as we could go in, then we got all together with our companies and made a big push in," he said.
Six of his comrades were killed before they made it off the boat. Another 17 were wounded. Fields, a 90-year-old Ottawa resident, considers himself one of the lucky ones.
Two years after the disastrous Dieppe raid, this Operation Overlord was, by comparison, a meticulously planned and superiorly supported exercise. Still, the challenges of fierce German fire and beaches littered with landmines, barbed wire and machine gun nests were formidable.
"We didn't know what to expect until we got there, then hell blew out and we all knew what we were going to get," Fields said.
As a member of the Fifth Field Company of the Royal Canadian Engineers, it was his job to help build bridges and repair infrastructure so troops could advance into France. On D-Day, his urgent task at hand was to clear the mess of obstacles off the beach to make room for newly arriving ships and boats.
The exuberance of his youth outweighed any fear factor.
"We were all young, and when you're young you get excited very fast. So we were all ready to hit the beach, and whatever came, that was it," he said. "Then excitement soon left us and we got down to doing our job."
Fields was one of about 15,000 Canadians who landed on what was code-named Juno Beach, working alongside the British and Americans to secure a foothold on the coast to push further in and ultimately wrestle Europe from the Nazi grip. The sprawling site of bloodshed that day -- now a picture-perfect image of serene breezy beaches -- is widely considered a pivotal point of the Second World War.
Steve Harris, chief military historian for the Department of National Defence, said the size of the invasion force and degree of support had been greatly increased in the months leading up to D-Day.
"The planning had been really intense because everybody knew this was a one-shot deal. It either worked, or it didn't," he said. "And if it didn't work, it was going to take a year or two before you could try it again. And had it failed, the great fear would have been that somehow the Soviet Union and the Germans had come to some kind of separate peace agreement which would then have made the whole prospect of invading western Europe hugely difficult."
While Harris does not see a direct link between the catastrophe of Dieppe and the success at Normandy, he said accumulated experience in other operations, more sophisticated beach and photo reconnaissance that could pinpoint German strongpoints and huge-scale support in the air and at sea all boosted the chances of success.
"They brought everything to bear that they could on this to make sure they didn't lose," said Harris, whose father John "Jack" Harris landed on the beach that day and was wounded 18 hours later.
Many historians call D-Day 'the beginning of the end' of the war; Harris believes the successful operation served to accelerate what was already inevitable. A huge Russian army was fighting on the eastern front; Germany was collapsing from both sides, and U.S. participation and resources poured into the war was making a great impact.
"Once we were ashore, the defeat of Germany was certain to happen in 1944, or 1945 or 1946 at the latest. If we had not successfully landed that day, who knows what the end result would have been," he said.
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Time has taken its toll on some fading memories, but the images of D-Day remain crystal clear in Cecil Hancock's mind.
Training to be a Royal Canadian Air Force navigator, he went overseas in July 1943 to help chart targets and courses with precision. All the training in the world could not have prepared him for what he saw when the sun rose on D-Day.
"Dawn was just breaking. We came back over the channel and it was sight I will never forget in all my dying days," said Hancock, now an 88-year-old Toronto resident. "All the ships that were in the channel on their way to the invasion -- a mass of humanity and ships and bombing -- and we had a bird's eye view of it all. I was never on the ground, but we did our part in the air."
With landing craft, ships and fighter aircraft all converging on the coast, he said crashing in to friendly planes or getting shot at by your own guns was "of some concern."
"But you couldn't afford to worry. You had a job to do, and you could only hope that time would look after you," Hancock said. "I was damn lucky. I guess the almighty must have been on our side. So many got shot down and we never saw them again."
Like Hancock, most survivors of D-Day and the Second World War are now in their late 80s or 90s. Their average age is 87 and their ranks are thinning fast.
Marc Chalifoux, executive director of The Dominion Institute, said polls show a heightened public knowledge of Canada's war history, partly due to widely publicized anniversaries of military milestones. But he believes there is still a long way to go -- and time is running out to tap the living links to the past.
"Generally, Canadians don't know enough about military history, and the educational system needs to do a better job," he said. "This is really part of the basic toolkit that students need to become active citizens. To grapple with questions of what Canada's role in the world should be now and in the future, it's important to understand where we've come from as a country and what kind of role we once played."
Chalifoux hopes the commemorative blitz for the "seminal event" of D-Day will lead to a year-long series of events to mark the 65th anniversary of the end of the Second World War next year.
"This is really one of the last, if not the last, significant anniversaries, where there will be large numbers of WW 2 veterans will be well enough to take part. It's very important that Canadians take part in acts of remembrance and commemoration," he said.
Bill Gunter was keen for adventure when he joined the navy at age 17 and signed up for "especially hazardous duty." An anti-aircraft gunner, he got more than he bargained for when he landed on the beaches of Normandy strapped with a twin-mounted weapon at age 19.
"My first thought was, 'What has happened to all my friends?' That was my first impression," he recalled.
Assault landing craft were scattered in all directions -- sideways, upside down -- when they went in full-speed ahead to the beach.
They defied the odds and managed to get back off, but their vessel had suffered dire mechanical and electrical problems.
Eventually they were towed back to safety in England.
Years later, Gunter wells with emotion when he considers the tender young ages of comrades displayed on the rows of grave markers in military cemeteries.
"I think of all the people who lost 65 years of their lives. That's fantastic when I figure what I've enjoyed for the last 65 years and what they have missed out on," he said.
KATHLEEN.HARRIS@SUNMEDIA.CA
{KEYWORDS} NATIONAL
