Juno Beach

Friday, February 19, 2024

This beach was taken by the Canadians. Of the 24,000 troops who attacked Juno beach on D Day, 340 of them died. When I give these numbers, I am only talking about those who died. Many more were wounded, and some even taken prisoner.

The pill boxes on the sea wall were quickly taken and it was then safe for the remaining troops to land. The sea wall, a small four or five foot step from the sand up to the land, offered good cover for the troops but it was also made them vulnerable as they tried to climb up it. The German gun nests were up on the sea wall fairly close to the water. You can see the sea wall in my pictures and in the D Day pictures.

Many of the Canadian troops were French speakers and the locals were quite surprised to find soldiers who spoke their own language. What made it more surprising, is that the local Normandy dialect was quite similar to the French-Canadian dialect.

I went to look for a picture of Juno beach today but none of us took any pictures of the beach itself. Probably because Juno beach has become commercialized and is a popular sunbathing beach. All the other beaches have been memorialized and have an almost sacred feeling.

The coolest thing about Juno Beach is the Canada House. The Canada house is right on the beach and was the first building freed from German occupation. In fact, some people think it may be the first building freed in all of Europe. The allies used it as a command center. You can see the Canada house on D Day in the following picture and the seawall is also visible.

Since I didn’t have my own picture, I went online and found a picture that quite starkly compared the beach then and now. There was not that much sun when we were there. Do you see the Canada house in those pictures?