In the eloquent and moving remembrances of D-Day voiced during President Trump’s state visit to Britain this past week, there seemed something missing: homage to the Canadian troops that were part of this momentous operation. The United States sent troops to Utah and Omaha beaches, Britain to Gold and Sword beaches, and Canada to Juno Beach.
Fortunately, in his vivid and superb speech in Normandy, the president paid appropriate tribute to our neighbor to the north. After noting the British troops that landed on D-Day, Trump next said, “There were the Canadians, whose robust sense of honor and loyalty compelled them to take up arms alongside Britain from the very, very beginning.”
The Canadian contribution was significant: 21,400 troops, 14% of the total on D-Day, from a nation that in 1939 had only 11 million people. Compare that to a U.K. population of 48 million and the U.S. population of 131 million.
For the Canadian perspective, here is some coverage from the CBC, and here is the website of the Juno Beach Centre, which memorializes the 45,000 Canadian troops killed in the war. Canadian troops, despite heavy resistance and horrifying conditions, advanced farther inland than any other Allied forces on June 6, and at least one historian I’ve read in recent years (I can’t remember which one), rated the Canadians as the toughest and most persistent of all Allied troops. So please don’t forget their substantial contribution to the liberation of Europe this D-Day anniversary week.
