A commemorative event honouring Canadians’ role in D-Day held at La Maison des Canadiens in Bernières-sur Mer, France, is held each year on June 6. [Facebook.com/La Maison des Canadiens]

A light in the darkness: honouring Hervé Hoffer and La Maison des Canadiens on D-Day

STORY BY RICHARD FOOT

Once again, a crowd of pilgrims will gather on June 6 on the sand in front of the most famous house on Juno Beach, to honour the Canadians who came ashore on D-Day. Many will also remember the remarkable life and legacy of Hervé Hoffer.

This will be the 10th year that Hoffer—who died suddenly in January 2017 at age 65—will not be present at the beautiful ceremony he conceived and came to embody decades ago.

Hoffer’s family owns the large, half-timbered house that stands prominently behind the old seawall in the Normandy village of Bernières-sur-Mer. Now known as La Maison des Canadiens—Canada House—it was one of the first French homes liberated by Allied forces on D-Day.

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Artist Norman Wilkinson depicts the horrific scene at Dunkirk, France, during the 1940 evacuation. [Norman Wilkinson/Imperial War Museums]

Biographer Brian Jeffrey Street on the Canadian hero of Dunkirk, Part 2

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

Dunkirk was ablaze when Canadian Royal Navy Commander James Campbell Clouston arrived on the scene, having travelled from England with a large relief party to mitigate the disaster unfolding before them.

It was May 27, 1940, and the British Expeditionary Force was trapped, along with its allies, at the French port as German ground troops closed in. Meanwhile, in the skies above, Luftwaffe aircraft rained hell on huddled masses with few places to hide—and nowhere to run.

There was only one route out: the sea. And Clouston would be among those to facilitate an exit when the evacuation began. With Dunkirk harbour rendered unusable due to severe damage, the British settled on the only viable alternative: one of two protective breakwaters called the East Mole. There, inbound vessels could be secured and loaded with men bound for Blighty—free to fight another day, as well as to shape Operation Dynamo into the “Miracle of Dunkirk.” As pier master, Montrealer Clouston earned his place in that legend.

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• Biographer Brian Jeffrey Street on the Canadian hero of Dunkirk, Part 1
• Documentarian Eric Brunt captures the last voices of Canada’s Second World War generation
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