Small D-Day ceremony in Barrie features local veteran
A small ceremony was held in Barrie Sunday to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day.
The event, which usually features a parade with a band, was scaled back due to crowding limits in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A small group featuring dignitaries and legion leaders was joined by World War II veteran William Snow.
"It means, now it means a lot to me, but at that time it was just a scary time for me or anyone else," 98-year-old Snow says to CTV News. "We knew where we were going, and we knew how we had tried; it wasn't the first time, we tried to land in Europe or across the channel, and we knew what happened to the people before us."
Snow admits he doesn't remember the exact timing of his arrival but says it was just days after June 6, 1944.
"It's a day that I can remember always, still very strong," says Snow. "I was telling someone a couple of days ago I would just sit idly below, and I'd think a lot, and I was thinking about a certain time, certain thing happened, and that still made me cry at that time."
The veteran says despite the hardship, he has never regretted his service to his country. He was amongst the first troops to return home in Halifax and remembers that moment fondly.
"That was something that I will never forget. It wasn't all bad, is what I'm trying to say. We had the bad, but then we had the good," says Snow. "Coming back home when you didn't know if you would come or not and lots of times you thought you wouldn't. When you did get back, it was really something, quite the experience."
Barrie's local legion leaders say acknowledging the anniversary is more important now than ever, so our youngest generations don't forget the sacrifice many made.
"What they have today is because of what happened back then," says Fern Taillefer, a veteran services officer. "Everything that they have, their freedom is because of our soldiers who gave them that freedom and a lot of them paid the ultimate sacrifice for it. They need to know it wasn't free. It was earned by the soldiers back then."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.