Juno Beach Centre on VE-Day At first we just thought the French were just trying to annoy us by making today a statutory holiday. Everything was closed! It wasn’t until we were on our tour of Juno Beach that we realized it was Victory in Europe Day, and they had every reason to take the day off.
Photo of German gun emplacement with Juno Beach Centre in background.
Even though it was a cold and miserable day, everywhere we went there were lots of French families out educating their children about the liberation.
The cold wind off the ocean made us appreciate the similarly difficult conditions in which the soldiers landed.
Photo of Canadian War Cemetery near Beni-sur-mer.
Often we just remember D-day,June 6, 1944, and forget the almost year of fighting that led up to May 8, 1945 (VE-day).
Entrance to cemetery.
It took three months just to liberate Normandy and there was still Paris, Belgium, and Holland to liberate before marching on Berlin.
We are proud of our Canadian soldiers and moved by how young many of them were when they made the ultimate sacrifice.
Rest in Peace.
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