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On June 6, 1944, nearly 15,000 Canadians – at sea,
in the air, and on the ground – joined the long-anticipated D-Day
invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe on the Normandy beaches. The piece
of ground on which the Canadians fought so hard against heavily
armed and embedded German troops was codenamed Juno. On that day,
the Canadian infantry fought their way farther inland than any other
Allied troops. For Canada, and all Canadians, this was a coming of
age, an extraordinary moment of courage and sacrifice. On the eve
of the 6oth anniversary of D-Day, Barris takes us back to those
momentous few hours that forever changed the course of our history
in the voices of those who were there. In what might be described as
Canada's longest day, we follow the course of action hour by hour,
minute by minute, as we meet and follow the soldiers who leapt off
landing craft into the shallow waters off Normandy, who were strafed
by machinegun fire before they could even reach shore. We meet the
airmen who flew fighters and bombers in the early hours of the
summer morning, as well as the sailors who manned the guns of the
ships offshore.
Ted Barris has interviewed hundreds of veterans to piece together
one of Canada's proudest days, and one of the most significant
battles of our time.
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