Shilo soldier heading to Normandy

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This article was published 03/06/2019 (2373 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — A Shilo soldier is travelling overseas this week to pay tribute to the Canadian heroes behind the historic D-Day landings.

Part of the Battle of Normandy, the France-based Second World War campaign found thousands of Allied soldiers risked and in many cases lost, their lives to liberate their allies from the Nazi menace.

Bombardier Jonathon Hemmings of the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery at CFB Shilo will be attending the 75th anniversary celebrations in Normandy to pay tribute to the brave soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

“I think it’s important to keep honouring those people’s memory; all the people who have died for us,” Hemmings said.

“The sacrifice that they made is one of the reasons that I joined (the military).”

On June 6, 1944, Allied forces landed on the war-torn beaches of the French channel along the coast of Normandy.

Nearly 150,000 Allied troops landed, including 14,000 Canadians at Juno Beach.

Considered one of Canada’s greatest feats of arms, their reclaiming of the land from the Axis came at great cost, with total Allied casualties on D-Day more than 10,000, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia. Of these casualties, 1,074 were Canadians, of whom 359 were killed.

The Allies went on to suffer 209,000 casualties by the end of the Battle of Normandy, including more than 18,700 Canadians of whom more than 5,000 died.

The sacrifices of the soldiers will be honoured on June 6 with a series of celebrations in Normandy, marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

“I felt like it would be a pretty amazing adventure, it’s a lot to learn,” Hemmings said.

He set off to Normandy on May 31 and will be there until June 10. He is the only member of his unit attending.

Hemmings said he is excited to go to the site of D-Day and learn more about the important moment in Canadian and world history.

“It’s been really interesting to learn, and to be able to stand in the same places as those guys would be really cool,” Hemmings said.

He remembers when he first learned about D-Day in grade school, but at the time he did not fully understand what the event meant.

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As he grew older, he came to appreciate the sacrifice of those who served — an appreciation that was further fuelled after enlisting and spending more than three years in Shilo.

During the commemorations overseas, he will be travelling to different beaches learning about the Second World War history and attending events with heads of states.

“It’s a huge learning experience for a lot of us,” Hemmings said, adding that we need to keep honouring, especially given it is 75 years after the fact.

“I’m just very excited to go to Paris to learn, meet new people and experience everything.”

— Brandon Sun