American Reacts - Juno Beach - Canada's Vital D-Day Contribution 

It was nice to have an American present this video. James Doohan "Scottie" was the first one off his landing craft onto Juno beach. At a Star Trek convention, he was the main speaker. He was applauded for his life time achievements on TV. But once he mentioned he was born in Windsor, Ontario, then joined the Winnipeg Rifles, was the first off his landing craft and survived, he received a 20 minute standing OVATION.

Thank you John for this. My uncle was one of the soldiers who landed on Juno Beach. He lost several friends on that fateful day. Thankfully, he made it back and lived a great life into his 90s. His brother though was a pilot who was shot down earlier in the War and is buried in Italy. War is a terrible thing but we should always remember and be grateful for the men and women who sacrificed for our freedoms. So grateful for people like you who keep these stories alive so that we never forget. Respect also to the two gentlemen who contributed such great information to this video. 👏👏🇨🇦

My Uncle, turned Father figure was there as well, (He also fought in the Vietnam War) he rarely spoke of the 3 wars in which he stood for Canada. He passed during the lockdown...it was heartbreaking that he didn't get a proper military funeral. He said he was saved by his First Nation comrad turned blood brother and ended up going to the First Nations homeland where he ended up marrying a Canadian Indigenous woman (My maternal Aunt) and was instrumental in finding me and bringing me home when I was stolen from my parents during what is known in my Country as the 60s scoop. I was only 2 months past my 4th birthday and didn't speak English at all when I was taken but I clearly remember him storming in and carrying me out like a sack of potatoes. I'll never forget my happy scream when I saw him...I even remember his smell from that day. He kept me close to protect me from being taken again and wrote letters expressing his disapproval of those schools. Within that year, the last of the Residential Schools were all shut down...not because of him but most definitely, he contributed. To this day, I see red when my Countrymen slander white people as if they were all bad...I'm living proof that is not true. I wish I could return the love he gave us by standing as tall as he did.

Once again, Cousin, you have produced a very moving tribute, not just to Canadians, but to all the brave souls who landed in France on June 6th. God Bless the Greatest Generation and the cause of freedom. As your program so poignantly told, freedom is never free. As a retired Sapper, I proudly salute our American Brothers-in-Arms. Long live the bonds that tie our two countries together with love, admiration and brotherhood!

I'm a born and raised, French-Canadian. Sadly, my dad and uncles were fighting for the other side, that day. I'm so happy they were all captured alive by Canadians and taken to 3 Rivières, Québec, Canada as prisoners. I grew up reading about Canadians at the Normandie, the Sicily and the Italy landings. These Canadians became my heroes, became my role models, but I became the black sheep of my family, because, believe me, a fascist will always be a fascist, even after jail. My problem was that, I was, and I am still and will always be a Proud Canadian. Fascism for me, is a bad virus. I fought it all my life. I had and I have and amazing life being a Canadian. I wouldn't change my nationality for nothing in this world....my family all have double nationality, I rest my case about fascists. Thank you for your videos bros 👍💪🇨🇦❤️🇺🇦💪

Thank you for being so respectful to Canada in your analysis, my dear American Cousin

As a proud Canadian, I first applaud your video, and it's message. As for Canada losing more per capita, I doubt anyone was thinking of that, or that it really matters. A lot of brave men lost their lives, from many different countries. Many more were injured. Lest we Forget.

My husband and I toured the Canadian battlefields in 2017 and were at Juno. The visitor centre is excellent there. The Canadian objective on D-Day was to be make it as far as Caen but they got completely bogged down. The North Nova Scotia Regiment (the North Novas) got the farthest but got ahead of their group. Many of them were captured by the 12th SS Panzer division under Kurt Mayer -- the fanatical Hitler Youth in his command. They were taken to nearby Ardenne Abbey where they were shot and secretly buried --only discovered a year later. We visited this site -- a very poignant and sad reminder of the horrors of war. One of those executed was a First Nations Mi'kmaq from Cape Breton. We also visited the cemetery near Bernieres sur Mer and found gravestones of local men from our area. My husband's uncle arrived in Normandy a month after Juno and was in a tank regiment that fought in the Falaise Gap. He was another who didn't talk about his war experience with his own children. Thank you for your interest, cousin! Our own students need to know this history because with what is happening today in our world, we may be forced to repeat it. BTW, the people of the Netherlands have never forgotten the Canadians who liberated them in 1945. Many Dutch families settled in Canada after the war --many in my own community here in Nova Scotia.

Back in the late 70's when I was a young woman, I met a member of the board of the company that I worked for. He would always tell me stories of his time in the army. He was on those boats that came in to Juno Beach on D Day. He told me about the soldiers being shot at by the Germans, how he was in the water along with most of his dead comrades. To this day I still regard Stoney Richardson as on of my heroes

Grandfather was at Vimy, Father was on first ship ( after minesweepers) at Juno...buried at sea from the Sackville. From the families of Canadian veterans, words can't express how grateful we are for what you do. I SALUTE YOU SIR!

Charlie Martin kept fighting all the way up to Sneek, in the northern Netherlands, where he was wounded too seriously to continue. He married a "war bride" and returned to Mississauga, Ontario, where he ran a general store. Having watched his quiet rural area evolve into a massive city of 700,000, he died at age 92. A local hiking trail is named after him. The French Canadian mentioned just may have been the one who appears in the memoirs of a French local who emerged from the rubble of his home, thinking that the British had arrived (the helmets of the Canadians looked the same). He was surprised when the soldier he tried to greet in English shouted back in French "Mais non, je suis Canadien!"

In 1943, training for amphibious landings was conducted in Vancouver - after the disaster of Dieppe and in preparation for D-Day - "playing out in miniature on Kitsilano Beach as Canadian troops stormed ashore in a mock amphibious assault." The photos are amazing to me, as this is where I spent my carefree childhood goofing around on that same beach. There's a lot to be said for Canada's role in the planning for the attack - as was the case at Vimy Ridge.

The Canadian Forces were all volunteer very few were conscripts which is why the regiments were geographically based: 2 Queen's Own Rifles - Toronto, Winnipeg Rifles, South Saskatchewan, Regina Rifles, North Shore from I believe New Brunswick, Fort Garry Horse from Calgary, Les Chaudierres du Quebec etc.

The M10 Tank Destroyer was essentially a modified M4 Sherman built with lighter sloped armor, no Machine-gun and a main gun of slightly lower calibre but longer barrel, they were made exclusively to counter enemy tanks instead of more general infantry support, making them much cheaper to produce. The weapon they were equipped with allowed shots with higher velocity, therefore more armor penetration potential for AP shells but it reduced the payload available for HE shells, making it less effective against light vehicles and infantry but more effective against armored targets.

John you are making me feel old lol. I walked that beach in 84 it had to be hell for them Thanks for sharing Peace out from Canada

The Canadian servicemen taken into the British armed forces were typically those in high demand for both armies including trained officers, radio operators and pilots. So many Canadian pilots ended up flying for the RAF that historians refer to them as Canada's lost Legion. The Queen's Own Rifles is a Toronto regiment dating back to the 1860s with battles honours including the Fenian Raids, the North West Rebellion, South African War and WW1, WW2, Korea, etc. The Regimental museum is housed at Casa Loma, well worth a visit next time you're in Toronto.

You forget Canadians were part of British wars far before WWI. The Boar War, Crimean War, War of 1812, Napoleonic Wars, and others as a British colony, it was expected, but most were volunteers and honoured to go. In my family, we had members fight in most of the conflicts for Britain, representing Canada since the 1600s. For King and County, long live Canada, God bless our most honoured veterans and current active duties members, and our allies.❤

Really appreciate the acknowledgement! 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🇬🇧

I'm a Canadian who was born 4 years after this landing. I am so proud of those young men who landed there. They must have been filled with fear but did their duty in spite of it! Lest We Forget!!

Greetings from Toronto American cousin. You'll be glad to know that when I refreshed RU-vid, your video came right up near the top. My grandparents both born in Halifax in the late 1800's became engaged as WWI ended, but my grandmother was at work as a paralegal at her desk and survived the Halifax explosion. My parents were too young to join, but my Uncle who was from a monied Toronto family had been living a jet set lifestyle, having finished his University Studies in Toronto and embarking on his banking career when Canada joined the war at age 23 in September of 1939, something that Americans don't often know is that we joined the war effort almost immediately. I was fortunate to have my uncle until 2007 and grew up from my earliest of memories listening to stories of the war, as he left out the gruesome parts, and never managed to run out of stories. He told me he decided that if there would be a draft, he would rather choose what he wanted to do, and so he joined and became a flight mechanic initially. He excelled and for the almost 6 years, during which he met my Aunt who was a war hostess in Moncton, New Brunswick and they had a story book war-time romance, my Uncle was a bomber, flying thousands of missions overseas, and only returning to Canada once per year. He certainly was no war monger, and the quiet, steadfast courage of conviction was what most of those who fought had. They were heroes, all of them. He flew Avro Lancasters in fog and blackouts over the Ocean and Europe, and the hair-raising stories enthralled me. He also flew the giant amphibious Cansos which delivered personnel and material to bases overseas. Thank you once again for looking into Canada's war stories and contributions. So humble was my Uncle, that I hadn't realized he had been awarded 5 medals until after his death. I think he embodied the stoic, quiet bravery of all who served. Much respect to those who were lost during the Juno landing.

I actually visited Juno beach last summer during my trip to France. It was very touching to stroll along the beach when it was full of young families enjoying the sunshine and the surf, and then looking back at the now peaceful town. Those kinds of juxtapositions hold a lot of power when you get older and learn a bit of history. There was a lot of death on that day, and in the days to come as the Canadians headed north to liberate the Netherlands. On their way they would have passed the town of Dieppe, which was the FIRST allied invasion in August of 1942. That Canadian attack failed (with thousands killed) but it's part of the Canadian mythology that it educated the Allied command and laid the groundwork for a successful D-Day invasion. As my French guide told me with a shrug during my tour "pourquoi pas". Straight west of Juno in Arromanches you can still see the giant pontoons of the artificial harbour, which was crucial to our D-Day success, stretching into the ocean. At low tide you can walk up to the first one and touch it. All these decades later and there they are, silent memorials. Speaking of memorials, I also had the pleasure of visiting the enormous American Cemetery near Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer. It was beautiful and immaculate with every blade of grass in it's place, and the memorial wall told a beautiful story and was well done. My favourite bit of obscure D-Day trivia is that Canadian James Doohan (Scotty!) got his finger blown off on Juno beach by friendly fire, and that's why you never fully see his right hand on Startrek.

As a former member of The Queen's Own Rifles I had the honor of sitting next to CSM Charlie Martin at a Mess dinner in the early 90's. Warrant Officer Class II (WO II) Charlie Martin was awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal. Martin’s "Battle Diary" memoirs, first released in 1994, remain among the most vivid portrayals of the lives of ordinary Canadian soldiers in the war.

Thank you for the Canadian recognition. They got into WW II three years before America, fought, suffered and died til the end. They returned to front line combat with wound bandages when volunteer recruitment failed and conscription had not yet been imposed. Had the very great privilage of associating with them when alive (1983 -2000) to hear their tales (mostly east-coast ill educated ignorant front-Line types) from the highest per capita enlistment rate in Canada who saw it all and studied them in depth through the archives when they were gone. Pleased to say not one of them lied to me. My only regret is that they were so common in my day, I did not fully recognise what heros I was mixing with. They were common all about me. It makes me ashamed of myself never having faced their challenges when I was their age. The gift they left me was no fear of dying or at least resistance to the passing emotion. God bless them, the long, the short and the tall. God bless them all, the drunks and all who could/would not talk.

I'm so proud of our Canadian men n women vets, as well of all the Allies. I had Great Uncles who fought who were Canadian, American and British soldiers. Some came home and sadly some didn't. I love my country Canada and grateful for our friends. I thank all of them.

Hi John! Canadian here, and I just wanted to say thanks for presenting this video. Canada gets under-appreciated for our role in WW2, despite it being considerable. We put a total of 1 million personnel into uniform for the war, a number that accounted for 12.5% of our population, and our economy turned to a total war economy for the duration. Many reserve units were not just called into full service, but formed the backbone of many offensives during both world wars, actions for which many of these unit paid a high cost: my own unit, the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, were wiped out to a man and reconstituted multiple times. Despite these losses, our soldiers played crucial roles in battlegrounds like the battle of Britain, Bulge, Dieppe, Dunkirk, Overlord, and of course, Normandy. Canada manufactured hundreds, if not thousands, of Lancaster bombers, as well as the Hawker Hurricane (a very competent fighter that was able to outmaneuver the mighty Messerschmidt and thus score many kills against the Luftwaffe) and had the 4th largest allied naval fleet. By all accounts of both allies and adversaries, Canadians were a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Answering your question: A tank destroyer is a tank specialized in taking out other tanks. Contrary to what is popularly known, tanks aren't usually meant to go head-to-head; they're usually meant just to provide a big, mobile gun.

Thank you so much for sharing this. My great uncle billy william simple. Is from gospel ontario a small fishing village. Was among the first canadians to land on the beach that day. He survived the complete european campaign and returned home. As a young child growing up around him he never spoke of the war nor did I realized the part he took in it. Upon him passing at his funeral two men from the legion. Showed up with a placard full of medals and presented them to his sisters.My grandmother. She told me he never felt he deserved.Thohe said his friends that didn't make it home are the true heroes. God bless us all and may we never forget?

Thank you for showing us Canada's contribution to our allies in WW2. As a Canadian I am learning too.

If you want to find out more about Canadian Paratroopers check out Victory From Above. It is the story of the first parachute battalion and actually has some of the real veterans making commentary.

An excellent source for info on WWI & WWII is Norm McDonald, war historian & war graves commissioner, with his two series "For King & Empire' & 'For King & Country'.

My grandfather was a paratrooper on DDay. I visited Normandie on the 60th anniverssary with my Dad.

thank you So very much I am Canadian my grandfather fought through World War Two

I have to give you a LOT of kudos, because the general feeling in Canada is that the US doesn't give a crap about us, our history, and the contributions our country has made towards a better Earth. Thanks for doing this... you've got a new subscriber.

Fun fact: James Doohan, the man who played Montgomery "Scottie" Scott on Star Trek, was a Canadian soldier on Juno Beach. He lost two fingers to friendly fire.

Some tears here. My Dad landed on Juno Beach on DDay at the age of 20. He never spoke about what he saw. We watched the specials but he never talked about it. He came back safe and worked hard...had a good life. Thankfully lived to be 89. Miss him so much but many times with laughter and smiles because he had a fantastic sense of humour. Thank you Dad.😘 Thank you John for this clip. 😘

I can attest to the sand level rise: it is more extreme now. Also, at low tide (when they landed) the beach is very very deep (much distance). What I mean was that it was a long, long run in the open just to get to the seawall. The PITA was important to silencing many those bunkers and there is still evidence of that on site. Kudos to the Normandy French for renaming that house "Canada House". When I visited Juno (at BERNIERES-SUR-MER') there was an old fellow who lived through the landings and who seemed to just walk around looking for Canadians and he engaged us in conversation with delight and gratitude and detailed memory. He also confessed to laying flowers every week at the graves of the fallen. That was 2012 so he may have passed. The bluffs at Omaha beach are something you'll need to visit to understand...daunting indeed. To my fellow Canadians, please support the museum at Juno Beach.

JD’s channel is phenomenal. He is great at telling stories, but also being the relatable and curious source that asks good questions and puts others in the light when they are better suited to explain the details. I highly recommend his series on the Normandy Campaign in general even for personal viewing.

During the WW2 period, my grand-father was a drill sergent for the 22th. He didn't had to cross, but he wanted to... because he lost almost all of his friends during Normandy.. My mom and her brothers and sisters had it rough because of how he was in the army. I never saw that, since he calmed down when he became grand-father. He never spoked about that time ... but just how he act and his face when looking at his old military stuff ... I knew then that it was heavy on him. Never saw him cry, but I could tell he was sad. He rest now, but he had a good life. In his 80s he walked in the Grand Canyon. A bit before that, he got in the Great North, where he told me he had to breath louder to don't let him become crazy on the absolute absence of sounds. When he died, we brang his ashes in Chertsey (Grande Vallée), Qc, Ca. to spread it and honor him. The mountain where we got for that was name after him; Mont Paul Perreault. He's not very known around alot ... but he's my hero.

Cheers and salute to you good sir. 🍻🇨🇦

Thank you John, I am a second generation Canadian. I had a Grandfather who fought on the Canadian side and a Grandfather who fought on the German side by conscription. I wasn't taught about Juno Beach in School, mostly about our significant role in WW1.

Americans and Canadians are actual family. Brothers and sisters with the same parent. One just wanted to leave home.❤️

Glad to see one of my former Regiment's, The Fort Garry Horse, recognised. I was a WO in that unit from 79-89. Visited in 90 when stationed in Lahr (VIII CH). Very moving

As a CND with a father who survived the Dunkirk retreat, I appreciate your video. Thank you!

Thank you for this. I recently toured Juno Beach and Normandy in general (and many Canadian War cemeteries). Some of my fellow travellers were children of the men who landed at Juno that day. I heard many stories and learned of the horrors the Canadians would endure as they moved inland against the SS Panzers. Safe to say it got rather nasty. From Juno the Canadians moved inland to Caen - then the Falaise Gap - then up the English Channel coast liberating coastal towns and harbours. They marched triumphantly into Dieppe where the failed raid of August 19th 1942 (the trial run for D-Day) had left an indelible scar - then ultimately to the "forgotten battle" - the Battle of the Scheldt a battle that rivalled the Juno Beach in severity. The final push for the Canadians was the liberation of eastern Netherlands and the beautiful city of Groningen. It was hard to watch this without pausing. Thanks again.

A tank destroyer, tank hunter or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, predominantly intended for anti-tank duties. They are typically armed with a direct fire artillery gun, also known as a self-propelled anti-tank gun, or missile launcher.

when i was a kid i delivered newspapers for a very quiet and gentle man who was on the first wave on juno. he never said a word about it, and i never brought it up and i'm glad i left him with what peace in life he could find.

Thanks for doing this. -From Canada.

John, thanks for this and other videos. My uncle and my namesake, Walter Robert Draper, wasn't part of D day as far as I know but came shortly after. A member of the Lincoln and Welland regiment, he was killed in France on Sept 1, 1944, 21 years old and is buried in a cemetery near Calais. My mother's other brother served in Korea. May we never forget the sacrifices made by everyone who fought for our freedoms!

John, thank you for your interest in Canada. I really enjoy your videos, and I'm sure many Canadians learn facts about our country. I hope all is well with you and your family as I haven't seen any videos by you for awhile.

As always, THANK YOU! I recall some of my history classes and some of my discussions with my Great-Uncle...but, you seem to help me learn even more. Thank you for wanting to know and thank you for teaching us all.

Canadians at Juno beach where the only allied troops to accomplish not only all their objectives but to actually go further inland than anyone else. It is said, maybe more of a Canadian embellishment, that Rommel said the only allied forces he feared were the Canadians. If you watch videos of the Canadians landing you’ll see buildings in front of the craft just beyond the sea wall. The upper stories of those buildings contained machine gun nests

My father was at Juno. He rarely talked about the war and said if you talk about it, you weren’t there. My dad passed away in 2006 and my brother along with another teacher research his service during the war and they found out that he was on Juno beach and we never knew it. He also fought alongside his tank brigade against the German Panzer elite tank forces. As I said, he would rarely talk about his time there so it was a surprise to his 5 kids that he was there. He was in Europe for the entire war but was fortunate to make it back home to New Brunswick and we are very proud of him. Corporal Nelson Lacenaire.

thankyou from a Canadian who's family was there

My father signed up with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles in 1943 at age 15. Too young to serve in the regular army, he remained in the reserves (2nd Btn. I believe). It was the 1st Btn. of the RWR that stormed the beaches of Juno on June 6 (Nan sector). Good reaction video and thanks for doing it.

My great uncle Norman landed with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders on DDay, actually at the start of this video in one of the pictures you can the north novas coming ashore on boat #299 which was the boat my great uncle also came in on, I plan on going to France later this year to visit the beach where he landed. The Canadians were always a fierce fighting force, they were in fact according to German memoirs the most feared fighting force on the Western front in the first world war which carried over into the second world war, they were always given tough objectives in both conflicts and would usually get the job done. If you really want to learn more about the Canadian contribution check out for King and empire and for King and country by Norm Christie.

I am stunned that an American is aware that anyone other than Americans were in WWII. My father was a soldier from 1939-1945. I appreciate your efforts here. Cheers from Canada

That beach was up for sale a short few months ago. The Canadian government bought it at the bequest of veterans of the battle. I walked on that beach on the 75th anniversary. It was in my parent's generation. My uncle was the second off the boat and up the beach, the fellow in front of him was the first one out of the boat and was taken out by a sniper, just in front of my uncle.

You asked if anyone knew who the Quebecor and the First Nations was From the CBC article "Aboriginal Veterans Honoured in Normandy": George Horse, of the Thunder Child First Nation in northwestern Saskatchewan, recalled being among the first soldiers to land on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944. that may be him, but not 100%

Learned a lot! Thank you 🇨🇦

Thanks for posting this, I am so proud of my Canadian brothers for how well they fought during the wars. I can’t imagine how horrible it was and they just kept going.

I'd seen that video before, but it's interesting to see your reaction to what happened there. I'm about the same age as you, so I knew WWII vets when I was growing up. My Uncle was in a RCN support ship in the channel on D-Day, and an ex-boyfriend's uncle was a North Nova Scotia Highlander who hit the beach on June 6. He saw a lot of his friends die in the water and on the beach that day, and they suffered more losses as they advanced through town, but he somehow made it thru to the end of the war with nary a scratch he said. 😢

The video specifically mentioned that the Tank Destroyer was most likely an M10. The M10 "Wolverine" tank destroyer was basically a Sherman chassis with an anti-tank 3 inch gun M5 in a custom turret. It featured a turret with a mostly open top to allow the commander and gunner to stand up so they could both scan for enemy tanks, usually carried a .50 cal Browning machine gun for anti-infantry and light vehicle defense, and carried 54 rounds of mostly armor piercing or high explosive anti-tank ammunition. Its armor however was lighter than a regular Sherman, and the open top made it susceptible to grenades being lobbed into the turret. Around 6400 were produced. To make a Tank Destroyer you basically take the base version of a tank, rip an anti-tank gun off its usual mount to put into the turret and remove the ammunition designed for any purpose other than removing tanks from the battlefield. This is just one specialty type of tank, but there were many other types as well including self propelled artillery, self propelled anti-air, infantry tanks, and even flamethrower tanks.

Great video from the creator, and great reaction to it. The "success" Canada had at Juno didn't just apply to Juno, especially after the radio broadcasts began going out. Germany diverted many reinforcements from other beachheads to contain the Canadians in Courselles/Saint Abunin area and to prevent them from "backdooring" the neighbouring beaches of Gold and Sword. This of course made it easier for the British to press their own beaches inland, and ultimately the Americans as well coming from Utah and Omahah. Did it "seal the deal". no we'd have won that engagement in the end, because we were committed to it. But the "successes" on Juno beach made it way less of a fight then it could have been. When the Germans learned the Canadians had made a foothold...those old memories from WW1 started popping up. The Stormtruppen were coming.

Thank you for showing us this educational video John

John Keegan once told Bill Clinton in the run up to the 1994 D Day commemoration three suggestions. The third was “Don’t forget the Canadians”. We Canadians like to talk about Juno Beach, we like to talk less about Carpiquet and Verrieres Ridge where we struggled. But that takes nothing away from the bravery of all those involved.

Thanks John, I appreciate you telling this story of our Canadian troops at Juno Beach. ❤️🇨🇦❤️

Once again, thank you for learning about our contributions to the war effort. I may also suggest you look up our efforts in what some call the forgotten war here. June 6th got a lot of attention, but before Normandy and for a large part to the end of the war was Canada's contribution to the war being fought in Italy. I also by no means want to leave out Canada's liberation of the Netherlands. You also mentioned the paratroopers, I regret I can't give too much info on that, but I will say, that my uncle, whom my son was named after, was with the British paras and killed in the invasion; the only one of my father's family that didn't make it home. It may be too late to hope for this, but I hope neither of our children will ever know the taste and smell of war. Rake care my American friend.

Good evening John. This was another wonderful video. Thank you so much. I wasn’t born until afterwards the war (not much after!), but I grew up in a time where the horror and brutality of the war was all around us. Thank you again for your respect and acknowledgment of the Canadian contribution. Best wishes to you and your family. From the ❤ of 🇨🇦.

My two Nfld relatives…landed with the British contingent- both wounded on the beach! One shot in the head…both survived!

great vid my guy, i am so happy to take the time to listen to you appreciate my country. ive been binging on you for a couple days. much respect from the Great White North. come to Toronto sometime, we can have a brewski and watch some puck :)

Thank you, as always, for this video. It was a difficult one for me to watch, as it brings up painful memories of my dad mourning the loss of his brother who had left Newfoundland to join the British Navy during WW2. John, I don't know if you are aware, but in 2019, on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, there were remembrance services held at the beaches of Normandy. There was a separate service held at Juno Beach, to honour the contributions of the Canadian military personnel to the success of the campaign. As Newfoundland was not yet part of Canada (confederation happened in 1949), it was decided that there should be special mention of the contributions of Newfoundlanders, some of whom had fought with the Canadians and the British. The Ennis Sisters, a trio of sisters from Newfoundland who had written a song about the loss of young Newfoundland soldiers, were invited and performed "I will Sing You Home" during that ceremony. If you would like to hear the song, here is a link to their first public performance of it, at the headquarters of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in St. John's, Newfoundland. (Unfortunately, I couldn't find a clip of the Juno Beach performance.) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nTRfs8T-YxI.htmlsi=wF7UeNAonODYo2Zw

I grew up in Canada on the same block as an elderly man who fought at Juno. There’s now a street in my little hometown named after him. He’s known for saying “Be a good citizen and keep war away cause war is hell”. Thanks for the video. My family came to Canada because of the Canadians that freed them and to this day, my grandma still talks about how grateful she is 🥹

So much blood lost on American beaches so much respect for you to report on Juno Beach. Really brother in arms! 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇧

Thankyou John for this excellent video.

John, another great video. Several years ago, I stood on Juno Beach and marveled at how the landing succeeded. Some things had been learned from the Dieppe disaster that helped the Juno assault succeed. I found my experience on the beach very emotional. You need to examine the next phase - the capture of Caen. Brutal. You need to check out the Italian campaign. Soldiers there were sometimes referred to as "D-day Dodgers". My uncle died at Monte Cassino - some "Dodger".

My Dad landed on Juno Beach on D-Day + 30. He served in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, following the troops with food, mail, ammunition and other support services and materiel. He served alongside his older brother and they were gone for almost 4 years. He RARELY spoke of his experiences, except for a few amusing anecdotes, until very late in his life.

Glad you reacted to this video from JD. I love all his work. I had the chance to visit Juno Beach and the museum, Gold Beach and the German gun emplacement at Longues-ser-Mer back in 2008. Certainly helps put things in perspective. Part of the movie The Longest Day was filmed at Longues-ser-Mer.

Thank You John, another great video, I have seen this video before and have both channels on my play list. as always you do a great job. keep bringing them and I will watch.

Thanks John for this...i am a Canadian...a proud Canadian...and i didn't even know this video existed before you showed us....your a good man.

As always a thoughtful and intelligent presentation, John. I really hope/wish your channel gets the following it deserves. The film and photographs of WWII that we are so used to seeing are black/white. The professional photographers were leery of colour film's stability. There are many, many thousands of colour shots done by military personnel and others that have survived(often tucked into drawers and boxes ). They are very worth looking for and some have been published in book form. Russian and German soldiers and others were given cameras with colour film to record what they saw. Erwin Rommel was brought in to bolster the coast. He was not impressed by the lack of preparedness. He had simple barriers and other things to impede access on the beaches. It was too little and too late. I was reminded by the machine gun sites called Tobruks.

The motion picture images starting at 31:39 was taken from a landing craft of the New Brunswick North Shore Regiment. Four days later, on June 10, the Canadians suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Le Mesnil-Patry.

Canadians penetrated the deepest on D-day

My grandfather was a sergeant at the time (later sergeant major) in the Sherbrooke fusiliers and landed on Juno, him and his squad cleared the way inland for the d-d tanks that eventually made it ashore. He always said he lost his helmet from stray shrapnel or a bullet on the beach and never wore another one. Forever grateful to those brave lads for what they did that day and those terrible years.

As a Canadian, I want to thank you.John for your reactions to canada's efforts in a lot of things .. I am a Canadian woman who had 5 uncles who were in World War 2.The eldest uncle was in the Bower war.I'm not sure what that was and I was not even born during World War 2.So I want to say thank you.. I heard that it was not just the weather in World War 2 Juno Beach. I heard the Canadians were dropped off 300 m or something like that out of where they were supposed to be dropped out. I'm not sure wasn't there but again. Thank you so much for your reaction videos on Canada. God bless👋🇨🇦🙏

Sgt when I joined in '61, later to become friend, Art Boon had a chestful of medals which are rarely seen in the Canadian Army. In fact the Princes Pats got Korean medals from the US president but not from Canada. He joined illegally at age 15. Art manned a 50 cal on top of a Sherman at Juno Beach. He said they could pull in because the shore was covered with wounded and dead. They finally landed and he knocked out a pillbox on the top of the wall. He continued through into the Netherlands until wounded. Cheers, Pipers Lament and Audax et Cautus Warrent Art from the Fighting Perths and 3 RCR.

That was great to see. Thanks John. 👍👍

Really enjoyed this one and learned a few new things too - thanks, John. I'm also one of those who thinks about the tactile experience of being in the same spot, seeing the same things, touching the same wall, turning the same doorknob, etc..., as those who where there experiencing the history as it unfolded. It's very impactful to me.

My father.. was In ww2..as a radio man..he survived but was never the same when he came back got wounded n came back home...thankyou John for posting this...because us Canadians pretty much won the war for all of us free north Americans...but of course we all had a hand..I'd love to see Steven Spielberg make a movie about Juno...just about the Canadians wouldn't that be amazing????

Thanks for sharing the video, l learned a few things i didn't know about Juno. Interestingly, the widely used film footage of Canadians disembarking from the landing craft on Juno, was the first D Day footage released to the world press. Dont know if you've covered it, but Dieppe France the first alied attempt to invade France in 1942 is a Canadian story you might consider.

The M10 Tank Destroyer was an actual tank. It was armed with a 3 inch anti-tank gun (76.2 mm). The turret was open-topped, so not that secure on the battlefield should it be attacked by infantry. The British took the same chassis and put a 17pdr. anti-tank gun on it which was far superior to the 3 inch gun. That one was called the M10 Achilles SP Tank Destroyer. (it was, as well, open topped on the turret). We also used the Sherman Firefly which was an M4A4 Sherman with a bigger turret and that very effective 17pdr. gun. Of course, the role of Tank Destroyer centered on anti-tank and those tanks rarely bothered doing infantry support and let the more numerous M4A4's take up that role as necessary. The 75mm gun on the M4A4's was rather underpowered and could not take on most German armour except on their flanks. The 3 inch high velocity gun used by the M10 and the 17pdr guns could handle the better armoured German tanks from longer distances and without always going for the flanks (this is a gross over-simplification, in that the effectiveness of these guns relied on many different factors such as range, angle of deflection, and the type of ammunition used on the shot as well as other factors). As such, it must have been a desperate shot that an M10 used, if it targeted that concrete bunker position on the beach. From the penetration of the shot, it looks like they might have shot an armour-piercing shot which would be largely ineffective against that German bunker, unless they had a lucky shot and hit the actual 5 cm gun. The British and Americans had dedicated bunker busting guns usually mounted on self propelled armoured tracked vehicles, but these tanks would have been way too heavy to have come in with the initial beach landings. What could have handled that bunker was the Crocodile Flame tank, but those beasties were incredibly slow and very heavy. They definitely were not deployed on Juno in the first few waves of Canadian infantry assaulting the beaches and the seawall. Also, the AVRE was a Churchill Tank with a large calibre short range gun ideal for taking on fortifications. It too was way too heavy and cumbersome to be used in the initial assaulting waves of Canadian infantry. Otherwise, thank you for the video, really enjoyed it. Keep up the great work.

Truly appreciate your thoughtful presentation. It's often forgotten that Canadian forces dominated the earlier successful invasion of Italy which took many German units away from the Russian front and the Normandie beaches.

Looking forward to your follow ups. My dad landed on Juno Beech and fought his way into Germany.

Thank you. I saw this video a few months ago but it's nice to watch it again.

An M10 Tank destroyer was an American made armoured vehicle that looked a lot like a Sherman Tank and shared many Sherman parts. It was not as well armoured as the Sherman but had a heavier gun that was specifically designed to pierce armour. These vehicles were used in conjunction with tanks but were not used like tanks

A tank destroyer is a vehicle, similar to a tank but but focuses on having a larger gun, in the case of the M10 it also had less armour than a Sherman in order to shed weight for the larger gun., which was common for the allies tank destroyers, make them light fast and hard hitting against enemy tanks

The M10 tank destroyer was a 3 inch ( 76mm ) gun in a open turret mount on a Sherman chassis.

As a Canadian I want to thank you for that video. I'm getting on in years, and my father would have been the age to go (he couldn't as he was deemed unfit .... he was deaf in one ear). All my uncles did go and were fortunate to return. At least when I was going to school our Canadian history was woefully deficient. I don't remember them even talking about Juno Beach. I have learned some things from other sources but not to this depth. Thank you again.

The famous and treasured Canadian music artists awards are named in honour of the Canadian sacrifice at Juno Beach. They are the coveted Juno Awards ❤️

tank destroyer is a light armoured tank type vehicle specifically used to engage enemy tanks, its much faster than a frontline battle tank ty for taking the time to make this video. Algonquin First Nations Ontario Canada

There’s a RU-vid page called War Stories, recently they’ve done a lot of great content on the Canadian contributions including a whole video dedicated to the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion.

I highly recommend the docudrama Storming Juno. Very well done, it gives perspectives from different Canadian units on D-Day and after the movie it gives testimonials from various eye witnesses.