D-Day veterans stay busy as they remember their fallen friends

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Two D-Day veterans are marking the 78th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy Monday in a separate manner: one is being honored at Casa Loma in Toronto and the other is taking to the radio in Ottawa.

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Canadian soldiers played a major role in the Allied effort to storm Normandy, hitting Juno Beach on June 6, 1944.

“We tried to get off the beach right away,” recalled Jim Parks, 96, who was with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles as a mortar carrier during the first wave on the night of the invasion.

“It was quite an undertaking to be in the first group on the beach because you had to put up with all the defensive fire they had,” added Parks, a special guest of the Queen’s Own Rifles Regiment at Casa Loma Monday.

Not a day goes by he does not think about the friends lost among the 395 Canadians who died that night on Juno Beach.

“I served on three warships. I’m the last man standing from all three of them,” said Alex Polowin, of Ottawa.

The sailor was on the English Channel on HMCS Huron for seven months, taking out Nazi warships. The ship he was on took part in the invasion.

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“It’s been a great part of my life to be able to say I participated in the freedom of our great country and the great world.”

He has a busy Monday morning planned, speaking on radio in Ottawa.

These surviving veterans are proud of their involvement in the Allied landings which took place on five beaches in Normandy to liberate France.

More than 5,500 Canadian soldiers died in the 11-week campaign — and more than 13,000 were wounded, according to the Juno Beach Center.

The center is Canada’s Second World War museum and cultural center in Normandy.

But the battle was key to defeating the Nazis and ending the Second World War.

“Everybody was going forward. And so you went forward with them,” said Parks.

“I always worry about him because it’s real,” said daughter Crystal.

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“I’ve never experienced trying to swim, and getting shot at, and then almost drowning – and not – and going ashore, and trying not to get killed, and seeing all your comrades fall beside you.”

Even at his advanced age, Parks devotes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to keeping active.

“I’m in good health,” he added. “I go to the fitness center at least three times a week just to keep out of mischief.”

But the ranks of soldiers like Parks and Polowin are thin.

The Juno Beach Center said two D-Day veterans died in recent days.

For survivors, life is about maintaining the memory of service and sacrifice.

“I actually get joy out of this stage of my life. I keep thinking, ‘Boy, am I lucky I’m still around,’” said Alex.

But he said with each passing year “there’s an emptiness that there’s no one to call anymore.”