Carpiquet
There was a very nice ceremony on the weekend at Minto Armouries here in Winnipeg, at which the French government presented medals to Canadian vets, mostly Royal Winnipeg Rifles who had fought at Carpiquet and its airport against 12 SS Panzer Hitler Youth, outside Caen in July '44.
Our reporter who covered the event came back with photocopies of the RWR war diaries from July '44 which had been given to him for background. He passed them along to me, knowing that I would be interested - he wasn't, and said he could barely understand them.
I could understand them just fine, and they made for some gripping reading. Names such as Prince (doing some very efficient sniping) and Chadderton appear in the diaries. Many episodes of fierce fighting and bravery in those pages.
Some smart publisher should get a grant or subsidy to reproduce some of the best of Canadian regiments' war diaries, and place them in every school library in the country, Lest We Forget.
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Member: Prairie Command, Ex-Military Land Rover Association 2110, MVPA 29055
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