Swift Current Cenotaph
05 June 2011
Invocation: We assemble today to solemnly remember an historic event and to pay our to the lives of our comrades whose death we mourn but whose spirits still live on.
Let us pray: Almighty God. To paraphrase a now famous D-day prayer: Our soldiers, they were sore tried, by night and by day, without rest— until the victory was won. The darkness was rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls were shaken with the violence of war.
For those who served were drawn from the ways of peace. They fought not for the lust of conquest. They fought to end conquest; hoping to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people, yearning but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some, however, did not return to their home here but rather to their eternal home with Thee. Continue to embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom. We are here today Lord to commemorate those who lived and died through the battles of D-day.
We dedicate these proceeding today, in your name, Amen.
Reading from John 12:23-26:
23And Jesus answered them, saying, the hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24Verily, verily, I say unto you, except that a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.
25He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
27Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, for it is this very cause that I came unto this very hour. 28Father, glorify thy name.
Meditation: Normandy, June 6, 1944, 5 a.m., D-Day: The Royal Canadian Navy alongside our British and American allies brought the largest invasion fleet ever assembled from England to France in total darkness. for Operation Overlord. The Sun was coming up – on some those assembled for the very last time before the Good Lord returns.
This seaborne invasion was aimed at 80 kilometres of beach along the Normandy coast, west of the Seine River. Canada’s objective was right in the middle. The military planners assigned Canada a very significant role on D-Day: to take Juno Beach as a beginning to the liberation of Europe from Nazi Germany
Involved in the invasion of Europe, in all there were 5000 ships and landing craft, 11 000 planes, 50 000 vehicles and 155_000 soldiers ready for the impending battle. 14 000 Canadian soldiers were to land on the beaches; another 450 were to drop behind enemy lines by parachute or by glider. The Royal Canadian Navy supplied ships and about 10 000 sailors. Lancaster bombers and Spitfire fighters from the Royal Canadian Air Force supported the invasion.
The Canadians who landed on Juno Beach that day were part of Britain's Second Army. The Canadian assault forces were the Third Canadian Infantry Division and the Second Canadian Armoured Brigade.
Cliff Chadderton of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles said, "The Canadian invasion forces had spent years in Britain training for the task. They had tried very hard not to think of what lay ahead. It was difficult to realize the enormity of what we would be attempting. I was part of that force. However, when we started our assault training on the south of England and in Scotland, we began to realize what loomed before us. Untried troops would dare to set foot in Hitler's Europe. Everyday while in Britain, we heard stories of the heavily fortified French coast which the Germans, in four years with slave labour had turned into a continuous system of guns, pillboxes, mines, barbed wire and on the beaches, underwater pilings, some loaded with explosives waiting to blow up the assault crafts. It was a terrifying picture. The men of the infantry and tank regiments chosen for the invasion simply had to disregard what lay ahead for them across the channel. We just dug in, trained harder, determined to do what some were saying would be impossible."
Fourteen thousand young Canadians stormed Juno Beach on June 6, 1944: They were from across the country; from the east to the west, from the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, to the Canadian Scottish from Victoria. The bombardment of the beaches began at 6 a.m. Within an hour the lead landing craft were away from the ships. Two hours later, the German defences at Juno Beach had been shattered and Canada had established the beachhead.
Our service people’s courage, determination and self-sacrifice are the reasons for our success. They endured fierce, ferocious fighting and paid a high price - the battles for the beachhead cost 340 Canadian lives and another 574 wounded. British historian John Keegan, wrote about the Canadian 3rd Division on D-Day: “At the end of the day, its forward elements stood deeper into France than those of any other division. The opposition the Canadians faced was stronger than that of any other beach save Omaha. That was an accomplishment in which the whole nation could take considerable pride.”
Today we do feel that sense of pride and accomplishment but it is not without a sense of loss as we remember our friends, family, and comrades, who would not return from their service to God, King, and country.
Let us pray:
O Lord our God, whose name only is excellent and your praise above heaven and earth: We give you high praise and hearty thanks for all those who counted not their lives dear unto themselves, but laid them down for their friends, praying you give them a part and a lot in those good things which you have prepared for all those whose names are written in the book of life; and grant to us, that having them always in remembrance, we may imitate their faithfulness, and with them in herit the new name which you have promised to them that overcome; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer by F.E. Brightman)
Benediction:
May we, as citizens, and as members of the Royal Canadian Legion be charged anew with the full set of duties and responsibilities to our country and to our organization. May we ever strive to uphold the principles of unselfish service, which led us to serve God and our country in the time of war and in a time of peace, so that we may continue to serve, even unto death.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
