On June 6 1944, Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy (France) to open the way to Germany from the West. Victory in the Normandy campaign would come at a terrible cost. The Canadians suffered the most casualties of any division in the British Army Group.

The Canadian Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and 2nd Armoured Brigade seized the beach and its seaside villages while under intense fire from German defenders — an extraordinary example of military skill, reinforced by countless acts of personal courage. The 3rd Infantry Division took heavy casualties in its first wave of attack but took control of the beach by the end of the day. More than 14,000 Canadian soldiers landed or parachuted into France on D-Day. The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 warships and 10,000 sailors and the RCAF contributed 15 fighter and fighter-bomber squadrons to the assault. There were 1,074 Canadian casualties, including 359 killed.

June 6, 2019 marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.

Henry 'Hank' Killam of the Queen's Own Rifles remembers the long trip in the landing craft as it churned towards the beach. "I was sitting in the last seat on the third row. I never realized until we landed that I was going to be the last man going off my boat. And I thought, my God, they’d have a lot of chance to aim for me."

"So I was told not to stop for any reason, even if it was a brother, you don’t stop for him, you just keep going and you’d probably make it to the shore."