Orval Gibbons is one of the last living Canadian soldiers who stormed the beach on D-Day.
The 95-year-old veteran says June 6, 1944, is a lifetime ago but that he carries a reminder of that day with him.
“I’ve got a piece of shrapnel in my right arm.”
Gibbons was a sergeant in the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. He was one of the first to rush out of the landing craft on Juno Beach on D-Day.
“It’s hard to think the damn thing really happened,” he says. “I can’t really describe it.”
He saved one friend’s life but lost many others, including his best buddy.
“This was war, and stuff was happening, and if you got out of it alive you were lucky as hell!”
Gibbons says his memories of war are ones he would prefer to forget. He long discarded his uniform, service records and medals.
“As I always said, and I still say it, medals didn’t mean a damn thing. It’s what the boys thought of me that I cared about.”
Gibbons also cares about 'the love of his life,’ Audrey. The pair has been married for 59 years. But don’t expect him to gush about it, “I’m not one of those goo-goo-guys,” he says.
