One of London's last surviving D-Day veterans will be part of a solemn ceremony Sunday to commemorate the historic military mission, just days before its 75th anniversary.
Members of London's 1st Hussars, including 96-year-old Philip Cockburn, will gather at the Holy Roller, a Sherman tank located in Victoria Park following a D-Day memorial parade from the Delta Armouries at 11 a.m.
Cockburn, who joined the 1st Hussars while serving overseas during the Second World War, was in one of the tanks that came ashore on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944.
"This was the greatest generation. They put their lives on hold, they gave up their futures so that people in Europe could be free," said Allan Finney, a lieutenant colonel and commanding officer with the 1st Hussars. "That is something that we should honour and we should respect."
The invasion of Nazi-occupied France by Allied forces, including 14,000 Canadians, led to the end of the Second World War. Nearly 360 Canadian soldiers were killed on D-Day.
The Holy Roller itself landed with the 1st Hussars regiment in Normandy roughly 45 minutes after the first assault troops went in. Its gun was damaged two times during the war and was one of only two Canadian tanks to survive the conflict. It arrived back in Canada in May 1946 and was placed in Victoria Park in the 1950s.
"It is held in reverence by the veterans and the serving soldiers. It is the tie back to the soldiers who came back from the Second World War," said Finney. "They started the parades out of remembrance because they had lost so many friends in the war and they would gather around the Holy Roller... We have carried on that tradition and that is why we always go back to the Holy Roller every year on the first Sunday in June."
Current members of the Canadian Armed Forces, veterans, and cadets will take part in Sunday's commemorative ceremony, that will also include a change of the 1st Hussars Honorary Colonel to Larry Myny and Regimental Sergeant-Major to Chief Warrant Officer Colin Jenkins.
The memorial parade will see Canadian Army Reservists from the 1st Hussars, members of the 1st Hussars Association, and cadets from 9 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps march from Dundas St. to Waterloo St. to Dufferin Ave. There will be a short stop at City Hall where a wreath will be laid on a plaque that lists the names of fallen soldiers from the Second World War. The parade will then continue onto Wellington Street to Central Avenue where it will end at the Holy Roller.
Horses from the 1st Hussars Cavalry Troop, a Sherman tank, and several other armoured patrol vehicles will be included in the parade, which begins at 10 a.m.
