The Juno Beach Centre is a museum located on the coast of France where the Canadian Army landed on D-Day. It was built mostly through private and corporate donations. The Canadian government and some of the provincial governments did contribute funds but they waited until they were shamed into it by public opinion. The biggest non-governmental contribution came from Wal-Mart Canada but members of my regiment, The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, also contributed over $100,000.

The JBC was set to open on the 59^th anniversary of D-Day, June 6^th, 2003. Our regimental association and the regimental band planned a trip to coincide with the opening and my Commanding Officer asked me if Terri and I would like to come along. At the time I was the Regimental Sergeant Major so it was almost my duty to go but I did not look at it that way. It was more of an honour to accompany some of our veterans back to the beaches of Normandy.

We flew from Toronto to Amsterdam and took a bus from there. Although the trip was planned as a bus tour, I was tasked to drive a rented van that would be used for side trips if people were interested. I found the van much more comfortable and convenient than the bus. Terri and I could use it as much as we wanted.

We made it to Courselles in Normandy with only one overnight stop in Lille. We spent most of a week in Courselles visiting the JBC, seeing the official opening, holding services on the beach where the Queen's Own landed and attending other functions. It was a very moving experience and Terri found a new respect for all of the old army junk that I have cluttering up the house.

Perhaps the nicest thing that happened was meeting the Hoffer family. They own the large house on the beach where my regiment landed and it has been a landmark there since before World War II. They are very genrous people and invited us inside to see some of the pictures they have from D-Day. Because Terri speaks french, she became fast friends with the family. She also shares a love of cross stitching with Madame Hoffer and her daughter-in-law, Marianne. The three of them were soon chatting away about the various designs they were working on.

The Hoffer's invited us and another man back for dinner the next night. We had a wonderful time and echanged phone numbers and addresses. They said if we came back again for the 60^th Anniversary Celebrations we could stay in their house. It was an incredible offer but we did not think we would be back. Our departure was an emotional one. Terri felt she had made some very dear friends.

The rest of the trip followed the route the regiment took through France and into Holland. We stopped in Bolonge, Bruge, and Zutphen. Although most of the itinerary was army related Terri still enjoyed herself. It was like a week long history lesson on World War II. She also liked talking to the veterans and they just adored her. She was always playing mom to them getting them things and asking how they were.

Finally we made it back to Amsterdam and flew home. The trip had been stressful in places but overal it was very enjoyable. It was very relaxing to be back home and the significance of some of the things we saw made most of our little day to day problems seem unimportant.

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Here are the stories of other travelling I have done:

• England, France and Scotland
• Juno Beach Centre, France
• Voltigeurs du Quebec
• Paris, France
• The West Coast Trail