Juno: Canadians at D-Day, June 6, 1944

by Ted Barris

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 Candian 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 60th 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 the 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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Canada, War, World War II, Military Fiction

336 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 24, 2004

About the author

Ted Barris is an accomplished author, journalist and broadcaster. As well as hosting stints on CBC Radio and regular contributions to The Globe and Mail, the National Post, and various national magazines, he is a full-time professor of journalism at Centennial College in Toronto. Barris has authored seventeen non-fiction books, including the national bestsellers Victory at Vimy and Juno.

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous book. Excellent research and it should make anyone who isn't already proud of every one of our soldiers from all the branches of the military who helped win WWII. Canadians are warriors and very humble about it. We don't celebrate and hold our military in as high esteem as we should. D-Day once again proved the bravery and effectiveness of Canadian soldiers. I really enjoyed reading this book. Canadians who wish to read about and I hope celebrate our veterans should read this book!! Well done Ted Barris!!

[Duane Leon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book recounts Canada's great contribution to the success of the D-Day invasion. The book is well payed out and the pictures certainly do tell a thousand works. This is a must read for any Canadian history buff. It would be a great book for teenagers to read in high school to get a better understanding of Canadian military success.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spend time every year in the month of June on Juno Beach. My friends own half of the famous house that's there. Excellent book, and I learned some interesting facts that I can now relate to the visitors that come to the house.

[Amanda Borys · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will admit I am not a fan of Ted Barris. I admire the fact he is trying to tell the story from the point of view of the men who actually served, but I find it confusing to follow the action and get lost in all the names. I have found this before in another book by Barris that I read.

[Chris Pramas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Canadians are often glossed over when it comes to D-Day. This book rectifies that with a thorough account of their contributions to the campaign.

[Cropredy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It being the 80th anniversary of D-Day, I thought I'd read a focused account of the experience of Canadians on that momentous day. As such, I picked up Ted Barris' book that is misleadingly entitled "Juno ...".

The book is definitely about Canadians on D-Day but the scope covers more than just the soldiers that landed at Juno Beach. It includes Canadians who parachuted into the area east of the landing zones whose goal was to blow up bridges to stave off German counterattacks. The book also includes Canadians who served on minesweepers, motor torpedo boats, troopships, weather reconnaissance planes, and even rear echelon men all of whom played a vital part in Operation Overlord.

James Holland recently said that when seeking out first person accounts in the archives that 50% were from artillerymen, a fair percentage were engineers but few infantry men or tank crewmen. Why? Because the latter invariably didn't survive the war to be able to write anything for posterity. The rear echelon troops didn't write memoirs because for the large part, their war wasn't "interesting enough" to be worth the effort to write it down.

The redeeming quality of this book is that Barris wrote it in 2004 after doing extensive interviews with survivors who participated in the 2003 opening of the memorial to Canadian soldiers in Normandy. As such, and rarely for a book that pretty much is a series of a couple dozen accounts of soldiers, airmen, or naval crewmen of their 6th of June 1944 experience, you get for a veteran reader of so many World War II histories, the memories of men doing something other than at the sharp end of the fighting against the Germans.

Oddly, I found the best parts of the book were stories of these men who weren't firing a weapon. Barris even introduced the experiences of a soldier whose sole job was to be a clerk that processed all the paperwork ensuring that replacements went to the proper units needing replacements.

Of course, as with all books on personal war experiences, there are poignant moments such as when a man saw his own brother's body on the beach. The last chapter recounts the museum's opening on Juno Beach and the tearful memories of Canadian families and the the French citizenry who greeted their grandfathers in 1944.

Photos of many of the individuals whose accounts are set in print and a few maps.

If one were Canadian (or a Canadaphile), I think one would especially enjoy this book. For D-Day enthusiasts, this will flesh out your general knowledge. If wanting an introduction to the full sweep of D-Day, there are other books worth reading first from the ranks of popular historians like Holland, Beevor, Atkinson, Ryan, or Caddick-Adams (to just list a few)

[Norman Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very easy-to-read book dealing with experiences of Canadians on D-Day. As my father-in-law was one of those, and as I am generally very interested in history of all types, I enjoyed reading this book.

It is a collection of short anecdotes describing what a number of people did, or felt, or suffered on that day. If you are looking for a high-level view of the battle, then this is not the book for you.

Given the subject matter and the number of veterans still available for interview in 2003 when the book was being written, I felt that it was lighter on content than it could have been. Barris is a good writer; he could have written a longer book (I do not usually wish a book were longer) and it would have been better.

[Chris Tschirhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good coverage of the Canadian Story of D day. Some parts are gritty as they should be since we need to know the sacrifices of this generation that is fading into the past. I found this a good and informative read and I learned a number of things I did not know before even though I have studied this topic for a number of years.

[Tim Armstrong]

I was hoping for a more overall military narrative of Canadian operations during D-Day. However this book is more of a soldier level view and their stories. Not a terrible way to tell a story, just not the way I prefer to learn about things, especially when it comes to historical events. So the book wasn't for me.

[Claudia Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of D Day from Canadian point of view
Every Canadian student of history (and others!) should read this
Acknowledgements section includes my cousin, curator of First Hussars Museum London Ontario - Alastair Neely

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barris tells the story of Canadians at D-Day with many personal stories of those who fought, these stories make the event become real. A good read, especially as we approach the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Canadians played a huge role considering the size of our nation.

[Laura Telford · Rating 3 out of 5]

good read

[Quinn M · Rating 4 out of 5]

An awesome and brief overview of Canadian actions on D-Day. I particularly enjoyed the naval aspects and the details about the gunboats.

[Madame Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absorbing read. The passages are heartbreaking. What these patriotic young Canadians did for the war should, and never be forgotten.

[Ronald Kelland · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very non-academic account of the Canadian part of the Normandy invasions on D-Day in the Second World War. It focuses on the personal experiences of a select number of soldiers, sailors and airmen over the few days preceding and following the beach landings. While I found these personal accounts interesting and poignant, I felt that the overall drama, tension and importance of the D-Day landings was somehow lost in mix. Also, the final chapter is about the opening of a major interpretive centre about the Canadian Normandy landings in the 1990s. While I don't want to discount the importance of that centre, this chapter seemed like. it was tacked onto the end of the book and did not really fit with the rest of the chapters. Overall the book was good and accessibly written, which is great, but I did not see how it adds much new to the historiography of D-Day.