Juno Beach and Beyond

For our first episode of 2020 acclaimed storyteller Ted Barris joins us to explore his latest book, Rush to Danger: Medics in the Line of Fire. The book is filled with amazing stories about (mostly) Canadian medical personnel who have served in conflicts over the last 150 years. At the core of the book, Ted...

Before we sign off for 2019, we wanted to put together this special bonus episode as a way to thank you all for listening. We hope you’ll share it with your friends and loved ones this Remembrance Day as we remember another Remembrance Day under very different circumstances.  The episode includes a CBC Archives recording...

For the first time, the Juno Beach Centre Fellowship is going to a group of history students. Usually awarded to a single scholar doing research in support of the Centre, the 2020 award will benefit 20 undergraduate students travelling to Canadian battlefields and commemorative sites in Belgium and France.  The students are from King’s University...

Today’s episode is a back-to-school special featuring the Juno75 Student Pilgrimage. This past July, the Juno Beach Centre sponsored a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for high school students from across the country. Two dozen students travelled on a tour of Canadian battlefields of the First and Second World Wars, following in the footsteps of thousands of men...

Editor’s note: This episode is part two of an episode titled The Typhoon Project. It can be listened to as a stand-alone, but those unfamiliar with Typhoons and their pilots will find the previous episode provides useful context. This bonus episode is called Tiffy Boys. The Tiffy was the common nickname given to the Hawker...

Laden with two 500-pound bombs and adorned with black and white invasion stripes, a model of Harry Hardy’s Hawker Typhoon IB “Pulverizer II” hangs proudly in the “Road to Victory” room at the Juno Beach Centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer, France. There is a certain fierceness in its profile, especially looking up into the four-bladed propeller, four...

Three miles or so south of Caen the present-day tourist, driving down the arrow-straight road that leads to Falaise, sees immediately to his right a rounded hill crowned by farm buildings. If the traveller be Canadian, he would do well to stay the wheels at this point and cast his mind back to the events...

Getting ashore on D-Day was one thing, staying ashore was something else. The men who stormed Juno Beach also had to hold it against major German counterattacks in the days ahead. It was a race against time. The Allies needed to build up their forces in Normandy, across 100 miles of English Channel, faster than...

Seventy-five years ago, Canadians participated in one of the most formative events of the 20th century. The airborne and seaborne landings in Normandy on June 6th 1944 saw American, British, Canadian and other Allied forces return to France to stay for the first time since 1940. D-Day was a great and tragic day. The success...

At the Juno Beach Centre, we often get inquiries from family members of Canadian veterans who served in Normandy during the Second World War. There is a clear interest in uncovering family heritage, especially as it relates to the greatest conflict the world has ever known. The Canadian Research and Mapping Association (CRMA) wants to...