June 6th 1944, known as D-Day was “the biggest allied invasion in the war”1 and left over 1000 Canadian soldiers either dead or injured. The allied countries each had an assigned beach in France in the invasion. Canada was given the codenamed Juno beach; they successfully defeated the German defenses and moved their way inland 9 kilometres by the end of the day despite so many casualties. This day, D-Day was the point in the war in which the allies took control and ultimately the war in Europe was over on May 7th, 1945, just under a year later. While D-Day was a huge success for Canada as they were the first to secure a beach that day, it was a life changing day for many soldiers. They all saw horrible things which haunted them for the rest of their lives, they lost friends, and many barely escaped with their lives.…show more content… The story, told from three different points of view is an unforgettable one, especially since it is a true one. Léo Gariépy, a tank commander, led his crew across the beach and through to help liberate a French town. After hitting the beach, the only tank in his regiment to make it out of the rough waters that day, he chose to take out the machine gun killing the soldiers trying to take the beach rather than taking out the large anti-tank gun in another pillbox nearby. Lt. Bill Grayson, an infantry soldier, fought his way up the beach, and took the machine gun pill box almost completely alone. He was later awarded the Military Cross for his heroic actions on the beach that morning. Dan Hartigan, a paratrooper, helped his unit take out the main gun and capture more than 80 German prisoners so that the next wave of paratroopers wouldn’t be slaughtered on their way
