Second World War (1939-1945)
The Navy in European Waters  - D-Day and the Normandy Landings

Over 100 Canadian warships and some 10,000 Canadian sailors supported D-Day, the 6 June 1944 landings in Normandy. Canadian ships and sailors helped protect the invasion fleet, cleared German minefields, and ferried Allied troops across the Channel.

LCI(L) 135 on Juno Beach

LCI(L) 135, like most of the landing craft of the Canadian 262nd Flotilla, was damaged by submerged obstacles as it approached the beach.

Robert Marsh, a gunner on one of LCI(L) 135's Oerlikon cannons, photographed his vessel high and dry on the shore west of Bernières-sur-Mer after it had to be beached to prevent it from sinking. The twin ramps that allowed close to 200 Canadians of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders to disembark quickly (centre left) are still down. After hasty repairs, 135 pushed off the beach when the tide came in later that day.

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 19990143-002