Today is the 75th anniversary of Operation Overlord, the allied invasion of Normandy in France that began on D-Day, June 6 1944 and raged through Europe throughout the rest of the Summer, changing the tide of World War II.

Thousands of Canadians are gathering on a stretch of beach on the coast of Normandy in France this morning to commemorate anniversary.

It was on June 6, 1944, that 14,000 Canadian soldiers from all walks of life stormed ashore under withering German fire to begin the long-awaited liberation of Europe from the Nazis.

Two ceremonies will be held today on the eight-kilometre stretch of coastline known as Juno Beach, where the Canadians faced Nazi mines, artillery and gunfire in a desperate bid to establish the beachhead.

Like the attack on the beach itself, the first ceremony will be all Canadian with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau set to speak alongside some of the battle’s surviving veterans.

The musical group from Newfoundland, the Ennis Sisters, will be there. They lost their cousin, Steve, to suicide ten years ago and wrote the song ‘Sing You Home’ in his memory.

Maureen Ennis says they were invited to D-Day ceremonies based on that song.

We That Are Left Grow Old, But Remember Still

Only a handful of soldiers from that campaign survive.

Among them is Newfoundlander Hedley Lake who served in the British Navy. His daughter-in-law, Eva Lake says he turned 100 last year.

He was on the beach in an LST Landing Craft. Hedley told VOCM Open Line with Darrell Power, he remembers it “right plain.”  He was in three landings before that in Italy – Sicily, Salerno and Anzio.

Lake says he lost a lot of friends in WWII, but the biggest battle was at Normandy.

He says it was a few days, and it was all over for the landing craft. After that they went home, because as he put it, the war was over then.

He says there were three other Newfoundlanders with him on the LSTs

His daughter-in-law Eva says they’re proud to still have him in their midst. She calls him the family historian.