Let’s plant a 75-year-old tree THE AMAZING THING ABOUT HISTORY no longer relevant and that is, sadly, end is that it is always there to look back on, of story. learn from and ... be inspired by. Of course, that could not be farther The hard part is that with our fast- from the truth. paced, whirling world, what’s happening Let’s change that. Let’s move away from in 30 minutes right now seems much big- doom and gloom and focus on hope and ger than focusing on something that hap- dedication. pened 75 years ago. Let’s focus on the fact that millions of So, when does history get centre stage? people were being oppressed and that What about the millions of men and wom- young men and women from around the en who gave everything they had for the globe bound together that culminated in freedom of a dominated continent — and what was, and still is, the most complex fears of a dominated world? military operation in history. What about the single mothers and the There is a saying that the best time to orphaned children? What about living plant a tree was 50 years ago, but the sec- every day in a war-torn city, scared to ond best time is now. death about whether you will see the There is some planting to be done in the next? What about the younger brother or minds of today’s young men and women. sister back home in Canada left wonder- To teach them about holding onto hope, ing whether if they would ever see their rock-solid dedication and fighting for the family members, their role models, person beside you. again? This is the story of Operation Overlord How can we talk to, and really educate, — D-Day — which took place in the early the young Canadian minds of today of the morning of June 6, 1944. It involved mem- sacrifice and global citizenship shown by bers from 12 Allied nations, including so many from just a few generations be- Canada with an honorably substantial fore; many of whom have direct family role, and was the beginning of the end of lineage to one of the ‘greatest genera- Hitler’s reign over continental Europe. tion?’ A huge misconception in today’s cul- — A special 75th anniversary of D-Day ture is that the Second World War was commemorative project of The Hamilton fought by a bunch of old men who went Spectator and The Canadian Warplane over, and it happened, and it’s done. It’s Heritage Museum A14 THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019 THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR l THESPEC.COM Countdown to D-DAY PART 1 OF 8 Next week: The Canadian Objective June 6, 2019, will be the 75th anniversary of D-Day, one of the monumental days in human history. It was one that changed the course of the world, signalled the beginning of the end of the Second World War and shaped the image of Canada as a power on the world stage. The famous Hamilton will pay tribute to all D-Day photo as the veterans with a one-of-a-kind gala at landing craft’s the Canadian Warplane Heritage door goes down Museum on June 1, featuring the and Canadian World Famous Glenn Miller troops begin their Orchestra. assault on Today, The Spectator, in conjunction Fortress Europe with Newspapers In Education, begins in Normandy an 8-week countdown to D-Day, with France, 75 years a look at what Operation Overlord ago. was, and what was at stake. bid to take back Europe. Not only that, but it would mark a second How the world turned victory for the Allies, just two days after the liberation of Rome in Italy alties with 1,946 taken prisoner. Nine and be a much-needed sign of hope on a single day hundred and sixteen died. The RHLI for a world desperately awaiting a lost 197, the second highest casualty miracle. It could be the beginning of total among Canadian Army units, the end of the Second World War. The stakes couldn’t have been higher according to Veterans Affairs Cana- If turned back, the Allies would as morning dawned on June 6, 1944 da. have been faced with an unfathom- The defeat at Dieppe made two able hole from which to climb. Loss- things painfully, deadly obvious. es of astronomical proportions ALEX DAY First, there was much to learn to be would be definite. It would take able to sustain any break in German years to be able to re-train and re- “They fight not for the lust of con- defences, which was vital in order to arm a fighting force of that size. quest. They fight to end conquest. seize and hold a swath of land. Sec- Hitler could focus on Italy again, or They fight to liberate.” ond, the risk to human life, resources focus entirely on the western front. — U.S. President Franklin D. Roo- and morale was very real and, even He would no longer have to worry sevelt. more so, difficult to rebound from. about the threat of a two-pronged On Sept. 1, 1939 — in a bid to estab- Unknown to the world — including attack. He could continue making lish a ‘Third Reich’ — Adolf Hitler’s the common citizens of Germany — strides in weapons innovations and Nazi Germany began to invade the Hitler was systematically extermi- MIKE LARGE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS would remain unopposed in his countries of Europe in sweeping nating every Jewish person in Eu- A Canadian veteran on Juno Beach, carrying out of his diabolical “Final fashion. His ‘Blitzkrieg’ attacks rope. He craved the extinction of the Courseulles-sur-Mer, France, on the Solution.” passed through shocked and helpless entire religion. In the end, he would 60th anniversary the of D-Day Fast-forward, 75 years later. We defences like a rolling fog. By early kill more than six million Jewish landings in 2004. know how the events unfolded on, 1941, only the British Isles had yet to men, women and children, including above and around the shores of Nor- fall. approximately three million Polish- United Kingdom, United States and mandy on June 6, 1944. But, in those Nearly a year and a half went by Jews alone. Canada. moments, not a single person in the before any attempt could be made to For those under his powerful heel, It was codenamed Operation Over- world knew what was going to hap- land a small invasion force on the there was no end in sight. lord, and D-Day — the secretive date pen. coast of France to fight back. Four and a half years after the start marked for the launching of the in- Those brave men did not just land On Aug. 19, 1942, a force primarily of war — and nearly two full years vasion — was scheduled for June 5, on the beaches of France, they land- made up of Canadians — including since the ill-fated landings at Dieppe 1944. ed themselves in history as part of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry — — the Allied powers were finally able The operation was comprised of the most complex military opera- attempted to land at the French port to try again at piercing the armoured naval, ground-based and airborne tions to ever take place. The opera- of Dieppe in what was codenamed wall lining the coast of France. operations that were all designed tion undoubtedly led to the end of Operation Jubilee. This attempt would include more around supporting one another and the war in Europe — not even a year Of the 4,963 young men who set out than 150,000 young men and women, cutting off Nazi reinforcement to the later in May 1945 — and the libera- for the operation, 2,210 returned and dwarfing the Dieppe invasion force in five target beaches along the coast of tion of millions of people whose a total of 3,367 were listed as casu- size and scale with troops from the Normandy, France. gratitude is just as strong today as it Much to the concern of Supreme was three-quarters of a century ago. Canadian troops Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisen- Hitler’s rain of V-2 rockets on land on the hower, early June had been plagued England ended and the Nazi’s dream beachhead in with extremely inclement weather. of developing an atomic bomb was Normandy, France, So much so that he decided to post- thwarted. France, Holland, Belgium in June 1944 pone the June 5 invasion until a — all of western Europe — rejoiced. shortly after the weather window produced itself in And there’s no telling how many D-Day invasion. the upcoming weeks. more innocent Jews were saved. On a chilly, grey At the last moment, he decided to “It was unknowable then, but so morning 75 years risk it all on an opening in the storms much of the progress that would ago, a few on early June 6. define the 20th century, on both sides boatloads of “This operation is not being of the Atlantic, came down to the scared, cold, often planned with any alternatives. This battle for a slice of beach only 6 miles seasick young operation is planned as a victory, and long and 2 miles wide.” Canadians that’s the way it’s going to be. We’re — U.S. President Barack Obama. charged ashore on going down there, and we’re throw- June 6, 2009. a windswept ing everything we have into it, and French beach and we’re going to make it a success.” he Alex Day is a member of the D-Day helped make said.