More of a heads up than a post today… but I thought that some readers may be interested in this, and some may even be able to attend.
On August 19, 1942, the ill fated raid on Dieppe took place. Of the 553 member of the Essex Scottish Regiment of Windsor who took part in the raid, only 51 were part of the evacuation back to England, two of which died from their wounds. The other 501 soldiers were either killed or captured as prisoners of war. The Essex Scottish sustained the highest level of losses of any assault group engaged in the raid.
A very detailed account of the history of the Dieppe Raid can be found here.
So, tomorrow at 12:30 pm, if you’re free make your way to Dieppe Park for the unveiling of the Dieppe Memorial, an exact duplicate of one erected in Dieppe in 2006.
Credit: Library and Archives Canada / C-014171
Canadian prisoners of war being lead through Dieppe by German soldiers.
Library and Archives Canada / C-017293
German Officers standing on Dieppe beach among Canadian dead and wounded
So don’t forget our vets. If you can try and make it down.
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Thanks for this Andrew, you’re always on top of keeping our Vets in mind, and I appreciate that.
I’m on midnights so unfortunatly I’ll be sleeping. I remember seeing something on the news about students washing beach stones from Dieppe. Will these be incorperated into the monument like the one in Dieppe?
Man I wish I could make it, this will probably be the last year for many of our boys.
I would have loved to attend but the time is not feasible for me. I wonder why they are doing in the afternoon on a Wednesday instead of a on a weekend. I am sure many more would have liked to participate.
It is a beautiful monument and deservedly so. A big thank you to our local veterans for their fight to keep people free from tyranny.
I’m not sure of the time, but the date is anniversary of the raid, that’s why the Thursday. I’m not sure what significance if any, the time holds…
Significance of the time is: “The $60,000, 2.4-metre-high monument is made of black granite and features a cutout of a large maple leaf. It is aligned so that if the sun shines at 1 p.m. on Aug. 19 — the exact hour that the regiment stormed the beach — it will cast a perfect shadow of that maple leaf on the ground below.”
More information can be found at: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/windsor/story/2010/01/05/windsor-dieppe-monument-100105.html
Thanks for the posting Andrew. I’m hoping to be there if time permits.
I was fortunate enough to attend the unvailing in Dieppe in 2006. I’ll see if I can find the pictures that I took and will send them your way. It was incredible and very moving.
Not to take anything away from the Dieppe unveiling tomorrow, but there was another “unveiling” today. The Officers and Coxswain of HMCS Windsor were in town today to make presentations to the City on behalf of the Navy Centennial. The presentations were in memory of the 2 ships named after the City, HMCS Border Cities, a WW2 minesweeper, and HMCS Windsor, a modern V-Class submarine. In addition, on May 2, at the Battle of Atlantic ceremony at Dieppe Gardens, 2 new plaques attached to the Naval Memorial, were unveiled, honouring the men who fought in the Battle of Atlantic. A large number were from Windsor. Let us remember the Navy and Merchant Marine who helped the Allies to victory in Europe. We will remember them.
Thanks for the info as to why it was done at that time. Lest We Forget.