Mr. Speaker, June 6, 1944, D-Day, was a pivotal day in human history, known as the longest day.
That day, nearly 150,000 American, British, French, and Canadian soldiers stormed the Atlantic Wall in Normandy to free Europe from Nazi oppression.
Over 14,000 Canadian heroes from all over the country took part in the Normandy landing, and 355 of them gave their lives. That was the first day of an extremely arduous campaign that would take nearly three months to complete. The road to Caen was opened through the efforts of Canadian soldiers and, from there, France and western Europe were liberated.
As a former commanding officer of the Régiment de la Chaudière, the only French-Canadian unit to participate in the landing at Juno Beach, I am particularly honoured to commemorate this historic day.
Let us remember all of those who gave their lives in battle to protect our freedom, and let us be forever grateful to these heroes as we say, “never again”.