Day 8 - Battle of Normany sites - Canadian Sector

This day only contained a few stops but they were quite meaningful for the tour participants. The first stop was at a small town called Authie which had encountered heavy fighting in the days after the D-Day landing. The fascinating story that came out of this visit was the connection between the school of the town and the teachers from Nova Scotia. As a result of the building having been used as a hide out by German troops, the school ended up being destroyed by the liberating force of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. After the war, they raised money to rebuild the school which today is called the Bill Baillie School, after one of the Highlanders.

One of our francophone tour participants walked into the mayor’s office which was located adjacent to the school, to ask if we could have a closer look. The secretary actually called the mayor who came in just so that he could open the school yard for us so we could see the little log cabin built in the yard.

The downside of this was that we were running a bit late and thus had to cut the visit of the L’Abbaye d’Ardenne a bit short. During the Second World War this 11th century former Premonstratensian abbey was owned by a family that was actively involved in the French resistance movement. Eventually the abbey was taken over by German troops though who utilized the tower as an observation post. After the D-Day landings, a number of Canadian prisoners were executed in the area just outside the abbey’s main yard.
As the tour participants were entering the commemorative area oft the abbey, one member mentioned how her grandfather had told the family that his best friend had been executed in Normandy. While she knew the name, she had no idea that Pvt James Moss was one of the 20 men who had been killed here. It was certainly an emotional moment when she encountered the name on the commemorative plaque.

The high level of emotions were however just to be taken to a new level when we arrived at  Le Mesnil-Patry. Each of these Juno Beach tour groups appear to stop in this little village of 350 souls for a ceremony of remembrance and then a luncheon put on by the local villagers, most of whom old enough to remember the liberation of the area. With the help of those of us who speak French, some more, some less, many very interesting conversations ensued.

After an amazing lunch prepared by the villagers, the tour group returned to the Juno Beach Centre for more impressions and also for an opportunity to dip into the water. Courseulles-sur-Mer is a bit of a beach destination as the town seems to have numerous apartments for tourists or as summer homes.