Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives in Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day

OTTAWA — The sky was overcast but the sea was calm as a dark green amphibious vehicle rose from the gentle waves in Courseulles-sur-Mer, France, Monday afternoon.

Aboard the restored World War II-era vehicle, Jim Parks watched the Juno Beach shore approach as he did on June 6, 1944, as a 19-year-old member of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles.

The sea trip was a surprise for Parks, a 99-year-old Canadian, arranged by Dutch friends who specialize in historical reenactments.

“It was really amazing,” said Marie Eve Vaillancourt, executive director of the Juno Beach Center, who watched as the group toasted with shots of Calvados cognac.

Parks is part of a dwindling group of World War II veterans returning to the French shores where they made that fateful D-Day landing 80 years ago.

Nearly 160,000 troops landed on the Normandy beaches that day, including about 14,000 Canadians.

June 6 marked the beginning of the bloody 77-day Battle of Normandy and the beginning of the liberation of France by the Allies.

More than two million Allied soldiers, sailors, pilots, medics and others from a dozen countries took part in Operation Overlord in western France.

It took much longer than expected. Planning for the operation began about a year before it began, said Julie Thomas, chief curator at the Canadian Army Museum in Halifax.

“There were a number of different operations put forward, suggestions of what they could do to open up this western front, all of which were rejected,” she said.

In the end, the toll was enormous: 73,000 Allied forces were killed and 153,000 wounded. About 20,000 French civilians were also killed, many as a result of Allied bombing of French villages and towns.

Historians estimate that around 22,000 German soldiers are among those buried around Normandy, and between 4,000 and 9,000 of them were killed, wounded or missing during the D-Day invasion alone.

Cemeteries in the region are also the final resting place for more than 5,000 Canadians, including 359 who were killed on D-Day.

The Battle of Normandy was the beginning of the end of WWII.

“It is the operation that begins to give hope to the Allies,” Thomas said.

This week, Normandy is home to surviving World War II veterans, along with thousands of tourists and school children.

Canada’s delegation includes 13 veterans between the ages of 99 and 104, a much smaller group than in years past. Veterans Affairs Canada does not have accurate numbers on how many World War II veterans are still alive.

They arrived at the airport almost without fanfare on Monday morning, where a group of French firefighters stood to form a makeshift guard of honor as the veterans’ wheelchairs were brought inside.

That welcome is a sign of how deep the Canadian footprint still is in Normandy, Vaillancourt said. Canadian flags fly in the villages surrounding Juno Beach.

“Those who were freed by the Canadians are still alive today. Those who were children and teenagers remember it like it was yesterday,” she said.

The Juno Beach Centre, now more than 20 years old, is a permanent memorial in France to Canadians who served in the Second World War. It will also be the site of this year’s national commemoration ceremony on Thursday morning.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to attend, along with Veterans Affairs Minister Ginette Petitpas-Taylor.

Trudeau and Canadian veterans are also expected to attend the international ceremony at nearby Omaha Beach on Thursday afternoon. World leaders from 25 countries will attend, including Germany, Italy and Ukraine.

Officials expect a crowd of about 45,000 to attend the event, which is likely to be the last major anniversary that will include any surviving veterans of the Battle of Normandy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 5, 2024.

— With files from the Associated Press

Sarah Ritchie, Canadian Press