Last Man Standing

[oldE]

Yesterday I had a visitor to the Center who was well on in years and was wearing a cap with the Juno Beach Memorial logo. I asked him when he was last there and he responded with the story of his first "visit " to that place.
He had been in an anti -tank unit from New Brunswick. He talked a bit about the battle field and equipment. He said there were two of them left today and the other was confined to a hospital bed.
He was the last man standing.
I I shook his hand and thanked him.
A somber moment.

Best
Les

[bivenator]

Salute.

[Seahawk]

Somber but lovely in the manner in which you interacted with him.

I bet he had a bit of clarity in his eyes.

[recycled sixtie]

Wonderful that you had such a great conversation with that vet. Juno Beach incredible.
Reminds me of a Remembrance Day Service I attended about 10 years ago at our local aviation museum. I met a distinguished looking man(small in stature and piercing blue eyes) and asked what he did in aviation. He said he was a Pathfinder pilot flying DH Mosquitos in WW2. What a moment. Total respect for his service and dedication.

[Norm K]

Chances are he was reluctant to talk about it for the better part of his life so he's sharing while he still can.

I once had the privilege of meeting the Marine Corps' (at the time) oldest surviving MoH recipient. This fine gentleman's humility embarrassed every Jarhead who was there.

_

[oldE]

When he said he was in anti-tank, I couldn't remember the exact size of their main armament, saying, "They weren't five pounders..."
He said, "No. Six pounders. We could fire a sabot round, which could penetrate the German tanks"
He started to describe a sabot round, but I assured him I knew what he was talking about.
He went on to talk about deployment in semi-open country south west of Caen. Their unit was later upgraded to 17 pounders mounted in Sherman chassis, but he suffered an eye injury and was reassigned to signals until he was demobilized in the fall of '45. We talked about the German 88 and the 75 in the Sherman. He described the Sherman as a "death trap"
He carries with him a much handled letter from the Department of Defence confirming his years of service and his presence at Juno.
It was an honour to have some of his time.

Best
Les

[Shaun @ Tru6]

With the memories he passed on to you, and you to us here, he will live forever.

[BK911]

*like*!!

[kevin930t]

Wow.What a honor.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

[petrolhead611]

My late father landed on D-Day in a Cromwell Tank.He said they were envious of the Shetland crews because they were diesel powered and wouldn't "brew up" like the aviation fuel powered Cromwell (also which you couldn't escape from if the gun was traversed backwards).

[petrolhead611]

Sorry, my typo For Shetland read Sherman