Canadians mark ill-fated Dieppe raid 70 years later
CBC News
Posted: Aug 18, 2012 8:09 AM ET
Last Updated: Aug 18, 2012 6:32 PM ET
This weekend marks one of the most devastating and bloody chapters in Canadian military history. On Aug. 19, 1942 nearly 5,000 Canadians took part in the raid on Dieppe, France. Less than half of them returned.
More than 900 Canadians were killed in roughly three hours. Another 3,000 were captured or wounded, and many spent the next year and a half shackled to one another.
A Canadian delegation is in France to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Dieppe raid.
"The seven veterans on the official tour are all over the age of 90," CBC's Ann MacMillan reported from the town Saturday.
"Today they're taking it relatively easy. They're visiting two war cemeteries this morning, one where 770 Canadians are buried.
"It was a disastrous day in Canadian history. The veterans I've met are full of stories and very little regret for what happened.
"I met one man named David Hart. He's 95, from Montreal, and was a corporal sending radio signals from a landing craft just off the beach, code named Red Beach, where a lot of Canadian infantrymen jumped off and tried to storm the German positions.
"They were mowed down. They had no idea there were so many Germans in Dieppe and they totally miscalculated," MacMillan reported.
Gov. Gen. David Johnston will deliver a speech Sunday as town officials host a Dieppe anniversary ceremony that will be open to the public in Canada Square. Other dignitaries present will include Veterans Affairs Minister Steve Blaney.
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