The Holy Roller located in Victoria Park (Alex Allan/ XFM News)
June 6th marks the 80th anniversary of one of the most horrific battles fought during World War II, where countless soldiers sacrificed their lives storming Juno Beach putting an end to German rule over France.
150,000 troops, all from the Allied forces, landed or parachuted on the shores of Normandy. The Royal Canadian Navy had designated 124 ships and 10,000 navy personnel while the Royal Canadian Forces gave 39 squads.
By the end of the battle the total number of Allied force casualties tallied up to more than 200,000 and over 5,000 were Canadian, 381 of which were killed in action.
When XFM asked students if they knew of the anniversary of D-Day, many were unaware and some did not know what it was. After some discussion about it, many of them explained the importance of commemorating events like this for future generations, like Sam Groves
“There’s a lot of importance for that generation of what they did for us and how that’s translated to where we are now, so remembering that and appreciating what they did and like the sacrifices they made I think it’s pretty important for us to just honour,” said Groves.
Although events like D-Day happened a long time ago, the importance of commemorating and talking about them serves as a lesson for future generations about how humanity can avoid and never repeat great atrocities.
“It’s a good thing what they did in terms of like the whole spectrum of what happened. I think we should learn that we shouldn’t get to that point again with any kind of like major conflict if we can see what you can do to avoid it” says Graves.
A tank that was present during D-Day, called the Holy Roller, is on display at Victoria Park in downtown London.
