Mr. Speaker, 68 years ago today, Canadians woke up to know that their heroes were landing on the beaches of Normandy with their allies the Americans, the Brits, the Poles, the Australians, the New Zealanders and many others, to fight against the terrible scourge of Nazism that was going across Europe.
Our heroes like Reid Myers of Fall River, Nova Scotia, landed on the beaches of Normandy. Murray Knowles operated a naval gun, and while he was doing that on June 6, his son was being born in Nova Scotia at the exact same time of the landing on Normandy. Harold Chuck Elliott, one of the heroes, landed as a paratrooper at midnight that night behind enemy lines.
These are three examples of the thousands of brave men and women who sacrificed everything for the freedom of Europe and the world.
On June 6, 68 years later, we stand in the House of Commons and thank them and honour them. We say “God bless their memories” to them and their families and God bless Canada. To a free Europe and to a free world, they truly are Canada's greatest heroes.