Calgary veteran looks back on D-Day
Posted Jun 6, 2011 7:03 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
On June 6th, 1944 allied forces began storming the beaches of Normandy. Even though WWII wouldn’t end until the following September, the seeds were sewn for an allied victory on that day.
Ian Christie, who was in the waters off Juno Beach 67 years ago, says it’s not easy to talk about his experience driving a landing craft. He let off hundreds of soldiers into the cold waters of the Atlantic, most of whom he would never see again.
Christie says it was hard to think about anything on the way to the beach, but days later it weighed on his mind.
“I shook. I would think half of us shook anyhow. Realizing what we lived through, because not all of us lived through it,” says Christie.
He says he is extremely proud to be able to say he was there as a volunteer, the same as every other Canadian he fought with.
Canada was one of the only countries to rely solely on volunteers to fight in World War II, amassing a fighting force of a million brave souls.
