Valour on Juno Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944

Sidney Allinson is a Victoria-based communications consultant, Canadian
news correspondent for Britain’s The Army Quarterly and Defence, and
the author of Military Archives: International Directory of Military
Publications and The Bantams: The Untold St

Even the dry, conservative prose in which official citations are written
cannot obscure the immense bravery of the men described in this
compendium. Although the book is primarily a collection of citations, it
nonetheless conveys scores of combat incidents that occurred early on
D-Day, June 6, 1944. The Canadian section of the Normandy invasion
point—designated “Juno Beach”—was the scene of carnage and
courage. Men walked off landing barges into a hail of white-hot shell
fragments, charged across open sand against machine guns, and tended
wounded comrades under suicidal conditions. Facing no less danger were
those Canadians who flew above the battle in aircraft or who manned
warships or landing-barges on the sea approaches. For these and similar
acts of bravery, a number of Canadian soldiers received awards for
gallantry.

To show the relevance of these acts, the author presents them, in turn,
within the context of events. Details of various orders, medals, and
decorations will be particularly useful to the reader who is unfamiliar
with the significance and historical background of the various military
honors. An index of names, ranks, awards, and units identifies each
individual mentioned. Although practical reasons prevented more than a
small number of the men who landed on Juno Beach from being formally
recognized for their actions, these combat reports give a clear
impression of what happened on that bloody strand in France 50 year ago.