Getting Over the Dunes

Tuesday morning started off very cool, windy and rainy. We headed out to Juno Beach and went part of the way on the back roads which were pretty, mostly rural farm lands. Everything here is so incredibly green— I guess from all of the rain that they get. Traffic was slow on the back roads so we switched off to one of the more major roadways to get us there in good time. 

The Juno Beach Centre is run by the Juno Beach Centre Association and receives funding from the Canadian government as a way to commemorate the sacrifices and to remember and salute all of the Canadians who served in World War II in the Normandy area and other theatres of war. The Centre was  built in 2003 and was ready for the 60th anniversary of D-Day in 2004. The idea for the Centre was conceived by the veterans of the Second World War. 

We were greeted at the centre by one of the young tour guides from Canada. It’s a plum seven month position to get as there are only eight positions in total. Most of the guides are history majors, bilingual and eager to represent their country abroad. Many of them are going into masters history programs. This year there were representatives from Montreal, Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia and Vancouver that we met. Apparently it was important to the veterans who organized the centre that these student hires reflect the ages of the young men who went to war for Canada. Most of the young men who died were only between the ages of 18 to 25 years old. 

We toured the interior of the Centre on our own. It offered a good explanation of all things related to Juno Beach, as well as to the state of Canada and the Canadian people in general leading up to the Second World War. It nicely set the story for what happened at Juno Beach. 

Did you know that when the Canadian soldiers landed at Juno Beach, there were some bicycles on board because the military leaders believed this mode of transportation would let the Canadians get further into France. The 1st Canadian Regiment from Winnipeg were the first Canadians to land at Juno Beach and of the 120 soldiers, all but 27 died.

Our tour of the bunkers was led by Emma, the guide from Vancouver, and she did an excellent job explaining what it must have been like to spend time in the two German bunkers that we got to tour. Soldiers never lived in either bunker but they would sometimes be inside there for more than 24 hours at a time so they needed to have the basic survival necessities available to them. Their chief responsibilities were to lookout for any sign of the allied troops approaching and then to communicate their positions to fellow soldiers. 

When the building of the Juno Beach Centre commenced, the organization wondered whether the land the Centre was to be built on had any remaining bunkers on it. Humans searched and only found one bunker but one day a dog came onto the property while out for a walk with his owners and lo and behold, he found the other bunker. The dog actually disappeared down into the bunker with the owners concerned about what had happened to their dog. The builders eventually had to remove 20 tonnes of sand from the bunker because after the war, the geological layout shifted the sands, sand dunes and beaches somewhat, so all this time, the bunker had been there and was deeply buried. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to spend all that time in a bunker. Such a claustrophobic space to be operating out of. 

Beny-sur-mer is one of the cemeteries created for over 2000 Canadian soldiers remembered for their service in the Second World War. It’s a beautiful place of remembrance and each grave and the flowers planted there are lovingly cared for.

Pour les petite enfants. 

We strolled Juno Beach after our tour and delighted in seeing classes of students learning how to propel wind-powered wheeled carts with sails (also called kite buggies) on the beach. There were also enormous traditional kites and kite surfers. Today’s gusty winds made a powerful show for anyone who ventured over the dunes.