“Freedom is coming”: Normandy honors Canadian soldiers

A minute of silence is observed in memory of William Bill Cameron, who died at the age of 100 a few days before the ceremony, (new window) and each veteran’s arrival is greeted by respectful applause from the public.

I never thought this would happen, at my age. I am 104 years old, exclaims Léopold Thibeault. This veteran arrived in Normandy on June 7, 1944, the day after the landing. Until the end of the war he contributed to construction and mine clearance tasks in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The mayor of Bény-sur-Mer, a town liberated by the Canadians, calls on him. It is a great honor to receive yousays the French elected official, not hiding his emotion.

I am very humbled by this man. Me, today, I am free, I do not know war. He knows it and can talk about it.

This recognition, shared by the mayor, is apparent as soon as one sets foot in his municipality of around 500 inhabitants. Almost everywhere, Canadian flags have been installed alongside the French tricolor.

In the neighboring town of Courseulles-sur-Mer, customers of a large supermarket are greeted by an old-fashioned military vehicle, flying the Canadian flag.

To see the Canadian flag everywhere in this region of France means something to me, says Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, who is on his first official visit to the region. The elected official says he hopes that the Canadian population is aware that what our veterans did is still honored here.

Colette Legouix, resident of Bény-sur-Mer, makes it a point of honor to recall this recognition, year after year.

I have never missed a June 6th. Neverassures the octogenarian.

Eight years old on June 6, 1944, she remembers the landing very well. There was a lot of noise, smoke, we were running everywhereshe remembers.

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But above all, an important element: It was freedom that was comingshe says.

We must think of all these young people who left their homes and who left behind all their memories and their families. Those who stayed there and those who lost their youth. Because those who returned were still marked.

Hope for peace

I say to myself yes, we were released, but at what costasks Claudine, another resident of Bény-sur-Mer born just after the end of the war, looking at the hundreds of tombs, maintained to perfection.

In addition to the soldiers who died in combat, hundreds of civilians were killed in the clashes, as President Emmanuel Macron highlighted during a visit to Saint-Lô, a Normandy town 90% destroyed in 1944.

Grateful for the Canadian contribution, Claudine makes a harsh observation at a time when her country is marking the event that led to its liberation from the yoke of Nazi Germany.

They say “never again” and yet there is war everywhere.

Lorenzo Le Duff shares this observation.

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This Breton traveled to Normandy to attend the ceremonies. Passionate about military history, he presented himself wearing an authentic uniform from the Chaudière regiment, based in Quebec, whose members participated in the landing.

Lorenzo Le Duff set up a military history museum last year and works in schools, with the aim, among other things, of show younger generations the mistakes of the past and prevent them from happening again.

According to him, this duty of memory is important, especially since the main witnesses of this dark page of 20th century history^e century are becoming increasingly rare.

Unfortunately, in a few years there will be no veterans at allhe says.

At 104 years old, Léopold Thibeault wanted to participate in the commemorations.

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I said I can, I’ll tryhe explains, also acting as spokesperson for other veterans of the Second World War who, given their state of health, were unable to cross the Atlantic.

He returned to the Normandy coast surrounded by other Canadian veterans and dignitaries, but above all by French people who were grateful to him for having participated in changing the course of their history.

I’m glad I did something goodhe says.