Brantford’s William Reginald Pettit, who died 75 years ago Thursday on June 6, 1944, never married and never had children.

But he is still remembered for his sacrifice in the liberation of Europe during the Second World War.

A tribute to Pettit, written by Jenna, a student at Owen Sound Collegiate and Vocational Institute, appears on a plaque at the Juno Beach Centre in Normandy, France.

“William was too young when he lost his life. I want to thank William for everything he did, from sacrificing his life to defend our country and leaving what he had behind. I just wanted to say that no matter how long it has been, William will be remembered.”

The plaque for Pettit is one of five purchased by the City of Brantford five years ago to commemorate those from the city who died on the first day of the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944.

The plaques can be viewed online at https://www.junobeach.org/tributes

Pettit was born in Brantford on April 3, 1912. A member of the Baptist Church, Pettit was a salesman before the war and enlisted on Sept. 5, 1940, in Ottawa.

Details of his death are not on the plaque but it does say Pettit was 32 when he died and is buried at the Ranville War Cemetery in France.

Similar tribute plaques can be found for Donald Robert Bailey, Samuel John Hall, William John Bolster and Edson Loy Pease. Bailey, Hall and Bolster served with the Queen’s Own Rifles, while Pease served with the First Houssars Regiment and enlisted in London, Ont.

The Bailey and Bolster plaques have few details but the one for Pease includes a lot of information about his life and a synopsis of his death on D-Day.

Pease died when his tank and crew were hit by an 88mm anti-tank gun.

Born in Montreal, Pease was raised in Brantford after his mother married Charles Gordon Cockshutt following the death of her first husband, Harold. He attended Central Public School and worked at Slingsby’s before joining the militia. He went overseas on Dec. 12, 1941.

Just 23 when he died, Pease is buried in Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery in Calvados, France.

June 6 marks the 75th anniversary of the deaths of 359 Canadians on the first day of the Second World War D-Day invasion to liberate Nazi-held Europe.

More than 150,000 troops participated in the invasion which, according to Veterans Affairs Canada, resulted the deaths of more than 5,000 men over the 2 1/2 months following the initial invasion.

A Canadian delegation, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, will be in Normandy, to participate in anniversary ceremonies.

Brantford-Brant MP Phil McColeman is also part of the Canadian delegation, along with local residents Lloyd Bentley, a 98-year-old Second World War and D-Day invasion veteran, and retired teacher Scott Clare.

Clare, who is accompanying Bentley, is the son of the late Capt. David Wesley Clare, a Second World War medical officer who was captured by the Germans at Dieppe and spent the rest of the war in a POW camp.

Born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Bentley joined the air force in October 1941. He was just 20.

For Bentley, the D-Day invasion began on the night of June 5 when he dropped a “stick” of paratroopers behind the beaches of Normandy.

Even now, Bentley marvels at the size of the invading force.

“On the way back, we didn’t fly very high. We were only up a couple of thousand feet so I had a really good view of the invading force,” Bentley said. “The ships were so thick down below, I could have walked back on the ships if I had longer legs.

“It was probably the greatest day in military history.”

Bentley, who also served in the Battle of Arnhem, also known as Operation Market Garden in Nazi-held Holland, has a lot of memories and stories from his RCAF days. Inevitably, he thinks about all those young men, who like him came out of Sault Ste. Marie.

“There were a lot of us who all went into the air force and I think only a few of us – three or four — who came back,” Bentley said.

A visit to the graves of those who died in the Second World War is sad because many of the Canadians were as young as 17.

During the week-long visit to France, the Canadian delegation will attend the unveiling of a Canadian monument in Chambois, visit Juno Beach Centre, attend at ceremony at Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery and visit other Canadian war cemeteries.

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D-Day memories from The Expositor files:

Capt. David Wesley Clare learned about the D-Day invasion by listening to a BBC broadcast of news for Eastern Europe while he was in a German POW camp. He had been captured at Dieppe.

Following is an excerpt from Clare’s diary on June 6, 1944;

“The night of June 6th I heard the first news of the Normandy Invasion. When I told the men in the morning word spread very quickly through the camp, also spreading outside. That day, with no explanation, I was returned to Stalag and was never detailed for another party.”

…

The late Cole Gregor served with the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and flew across the English Channel on the night of June 5, 1944. He described the night to The Expositor 15 years ago on the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

“We’d become airborne sometime around 11 p.m. or 11:30 p.m.. on June 5. We were flying over the channel and I looked down and saw this massive flotilla heading out to sea.

“Then we started getting tracers and anti-aircraft fire. It was like the fourth of July in the States.”

Getting ready to jump, the paratroopers were supposed to wait for a green light

“The first guy in line got hit by anti-aircraft fire and after that we just forgot about the green light and started jumping. I landed in a bush. I got myself down, got rid of the parachute and put my equipment together.”

…

The late Derek Pite, another Brantford veteran, didn’t realize the magnitude of D-Day until years later.

“It was in 1968. That’s when it really hit me, when I truly realized what had been accomplished,” Pite said. “My wife and I were visiting France and for the first time I saw those huge fortified bunkers.

“I was overwhelmed. They’re just so imposing, so intimidating and you have to wonder how it was that we carried the day.”