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At about 12 minutes after midnight on June 6, the first Canadians to take part in D-Day plummeted through a hole in the belly of a plane and, about 20 seconds later, were on the ground in France leading the Allied invasion.

The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion’s goal was to cut the bridges near Varaville and Robehomme and protect a British parachute battalion that was attacking German artillery. Due to a variety of problems, including a barrage of anti-aircraft fire that forced the pilots into evasive action, the planes were off-course and way below optimal altitude.

“I thought, ‘Jesus, I’m not going to be anywhere near where the other guys are because it’s taking so long for the others to get out,’ ” said Pte. Jan de Vries, in Juno: Canadians at D-Day, as he jumped into total darkness.

It was just seconds and, bang, I'm on the ground

“You couldn’t see a blessed thing … So I just hung there ready if anything happened. It was just seconds and, bang, I’m on the ground,” he said.

When the Canadians hit the ground, they were scattered and disoriented, but they achieved their objectives.

As the squadron’s bombardier, de Vries was loaded up with a jump bag strapped to his knee, a Sten gun with seven magazines, six 2-inch mortar bombs and smoke grenades packed into every pocket. It amounted to about 70 pounds of additional weight.

The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion suffered 113 casualties from the 543 soldiers who participated in the drop on D-Day.

Photo by MIKE FAILLE

Queen’s Own Rifles

As his assault boat approached the beach, Charlie Martin, the Company ‘A’ Sergeant-Major, noticed with trepidation that the bombardment of rockets and naval guns had overshot the beach, leaving very strong enemy positions to greet the 10 boats belonging to the first wave from the Queen’s Own Rifles.