“Prime Minister Stephen Harper and close to 20 other world leaders converged on the beaches of Normandy, France Friday to celebrate the 70th anniversary of a pivotal invasion that marked a turning point in the Second World War,” Steven Chase wrote for The Globe and Mail today. Chase continued, “About 14,000 Canadian troops came ashore at Juno Beach on this day in 1944 – part of large force of 156,000 Allied troops that landed on an 80-km stretch of France’s northern coast. Three hundred and forty Canadians died on that June 6 and more than 5,000 were killed during the entire Battle of Normandy, which saw Allied forces establish a much-needed foothold in Western Europe. On a sunny Friday morning under clear skies, Mr. Harper led a wreath-laying at Beny-sur-Mer war cemetery, the resting place of more than 2,000 Canadian soldiers killed during the early stages of the Norman invasion. The site is ringed by pines, maple tree and hedges and those buried here include nine pairs of brothers – the most of any Second World War cemetery.” Read the full article here.
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