Resurrecting the memory of a WW II pilot

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

For years, it was my favourite photograph in the rather extensive album my father assembled chronicling his time overseas as a medical officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. I recently went back to it, this time conducting a more general search. It was not long before I found him, I believe: Flying Officer William Smith Johnston, a Mosquito pilot from Renfrew, Ont., 90 kilometres west of Ottawa.

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Stopping the panzers

Story by Marc Milner

Canada’s role following D-Day was vital to the success of Operation Overlord. The problem with the well-known story of Canada’s role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings in France in June 1944, is not what it says, but what it leaves out—just about everything that matters.

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June 6, 1944

Some 14,500 Canadians invade the beach code-named Juno, marking the beginning of the Allied invasion of Normandy in France.

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