(Red Deer Archives, D-Day stock footage, CHCA stock footage 1994)

By rdnewsNOW staff

lest we forget

D-Day marked in Red Deer as observance reaches 80 years

Jun 6, 2024 | 6:00 AM

The 80th anniversary of the start of what is perhaps WWII’s most well-known battle is this Thursday.

D-Day, June 6, 1944, was the day that thousands of Canadian soldiers landed at Juno Beach in Normandy, France.

As per the Juno Beach Centre website, 381 Canadians were killed in the fighting on D-Day and 5,500 died during the Battle of Normandy. They were among 45,000 Canadians who died in World War II.

In all, an estimated 4,415 men representing the Allied powers died that day. German casualties from that day are estimated to be between 4,000 and 9,000.

Of course many more were injured and/or captured.

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In Red Deer, the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #35 had residents out to Alto Reste Cemetery on June 3 to carry on the tradition of putting Canadian flags at the graves of veterans, both men and women, who sacrificed so much throughout the war.

Residents are encouraged to visit Alto Reste, as well as Red Deer Cemetery, in the coming days to take a moment of reflection and leave a flag, if possible.

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READ MORE

• Two D-Day veterans and central Alberta residents pass in recent weeks
• OBIT: Mr. Richard Franklin ‘Frank’ Krepps
• Canada ‘discovered its identity’ during First World War
• D-Day: 75 Years Later
• Film depicts remarkable life of 100-year-old local WWII veteran
• A chronology of Canada’s participation in the 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy

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