The Juno Beach Centre has posted a very interesting bi-lingual guide to the historical battle site (it starts with the French..so for most of you..go to page 3 !!)

On D-Day, the two assault companies of The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada were commanded by two brothers, Major Hume Elliot Dalton and Major Charles Osborne Dalton.  The two companies led the assault on Bernieres-sur-Mer at 0812 hours on 6 June 1944.
At the funeral of his brother in 1994, Charles spoke about the night before the landing, standing on the deck of the SS Monowai with his brother, and trying to think of what to say to your sibling on what might be the last night of both of their lives.
 As they parted company to prepare for a 0315 reveille to board the assault craft, Charles simply shook his brother’s hand and said “See you on the beach!”.
Major C.O. Dalton was wounded on the beach assaulting one of the German strongpoints, but Elliot was able to clear the seawall and fight through the day to his company’s objectives.  Elliot was told that his brother had been killed and later said that “while I grieved, I had a job to do and had to carry on”.  When Elliot was wounded shortly after, and evacuated to England to recover, he had a joyous reunion with Charles in the hospital.
Both returned to the Regiment and fought through to the end of the war, and were both awarded the Distinquished Service Order.  They returned to Canada where they had illustrious civilian careers and continued their association with their Regiment, Charles becoming Honorary Colonel, and Elliot Honorary Lieutenant Colonel.  Charles died in 1998.
– LCol (Ret’d) John Fotheringham, Director, Juno Beach Centre Association, former CO of The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada

Date: May 29th-June 8th, 2019

Included in the cost:
Round-trip airfare, all transportation (incl. the overnight train to Paris), sightseeing tours and site visits, all hotels with private bathrooms, breakfast and dinner daily, full-time multi-lingual tour director, and travel insurance

Cost: $3,981.00 (Tips are included)

​On June 6, 1944, a massive Allied force crossed the English Channel to engage in Operation Overlord on the coast of Normandy. There were five landing zones, given special code names that have become forever ingrained in the identity of the region: Juno Beach (Canada); Gold Beach (United Kingdom); Sword Beach (United Kingdom); Utah Beach (United States) and Omaha Beach (United States).

The mission of the 450+ Canadian paratroopers and the some 14,000 Canadian troops who joined the firefight on Juno beach was to establish a beachhead along an eight-kilometre stretch fronting the villages of Courseulles-sur-Mer, Bernières-sur-Mer, and Saint Aubinsur- Mer. Once secure, the troops would push inland to capture the city of Caen, an important communications centre for the Germans. The brutal battle for Caen dragged on for several weeks, but with so many German divisions focused on holding the city, the U.S. forces were eventually able to break through the sparse defences to the south, and moving east, threatened to encircle the German forces in Normandy from behind.
In mid-August, Canadians played an important role in closing the “Falaise Gap” as the Germans finally retreated in the face of the Allied offensive. Two days later, on August 25, 1944, Paris was liberated by the Allies, officially bringing the Normandy campaign to a close.
Canadian forces suffered the most casualties of any division in the Commonwealth Army Group, and more than 5,000 Canadian soldiers were laid to rest in the region.
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Our D-Day tour will help you pay honour to this legacy of selfless bravery. 

After some extensive planning and a lot of paperwork by Mr. Perry, Mrs. Roehrig and Ms. Tang, the Bluewater District School Board has approved our trip application to attend the 75th Anniversary D-Day Ceremony on June 6th, 2019.
 
There are only 40 spots available for the trip (and much like the previous trip to Vimy in 2017, it will sell out quickly).

Parents are asked to attend an information (and sign up) meeting in the Grey Highlands Library on November 30th at 5:00pm. A long with the school staff  who will be chaperoning the trip,  a representative from Explorica will be there to help answer any of your questions, and walk you through the sign-up procedure.