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David Cale (ImagesOfTheJourney) > La Place Du Canada One of these old bullet scarred German bunkers remains, renamed "Place du Canada." The Queen's Own Rifles memorial plaque describes the battle that day which and asks you to try to imagine what it was like. The trouble was I couldn't and suspected that only those actually there could ever grasp what took place. I took a deep breath. The salt spray smelled of the iodine rich seaweed strewn on the beach, the surf crashed and roared, and the grey-green sea was empty of the madness of men.
David Cale (ImagesOfTheJourney) > Mosque Cairo
David Cale (ImagesOfTheJourney) > Drummer's Moon Cuba He is on very tall stilts.
David Cale (ImagesOfTheJourney) > This German pillbox is actually in St. Malo but it so demonstrates the violence of the invasion. These are the results of American Tanks taking on a German machine gun pillbox. It is close to 25 cm thick steel. It is interesting to note that there is only one hole which penetrated the metal.
David Cale (ImagesOfTheJourney) > As I walked through the Canadian cemetery that day, I realized I was the only Canadian alive among the seven hundred and eighty there around me. Row after row of them lay silently under the perfectly manicured lawn and gardens. Incongruously a small dog followed me, eager to play, nipping at my sandled toes, oblivious to the folly of men. I read the inscriptions beneath the maple leaf on each stone. Messages of hope in the afterlife, records of heroism, and one compelling request: "He sleeps beside his comrades. His Grave I may never see. May some kind hand place a flower for me." I found a flower and with tears in my eyes, did as I was asked. I did not notice the approach of a man about my age and two women. One of the women was in her late seventies. They saw me looking intently at the grave. "Bonjour, le connaissez vous? "Non" I said, pointing to the inscription. He nodded. "Ah oui. We wonder..we bring ma mÞre to visit her first loves tomb." "She was Canadian, from Quebec before the war. After the war she moved here so she could be near him." "Mon nom est David." I said " Je m'appelle Nicholas, over there is my wife and my mother. You have come a long way to visit a cemetery in which you know no one." "Oui, Dieppe est trÞs important pour les Canadiens" Between his "terrible English" and my questions in "mauvais Franþaise", he told his mother's story. She had fallen in love with a Canadian soldier. He had written to her every day describing his life in England. Then the letters stopped. His last letter was dated August 17, 1942. A few weeks later the telegram arrived at his family home "We regret to inform you...". After the war, she emigrated to France. One day in this cemetery she met a French soldier come to pay his respects to the Canadians who had given their lives to free his country. He had escaped France at the Dunkerque evacuation. They talked until the sun had set and he asked if he could drive her home. A year later they were married. "That was my father." Nicholas said "He died last year." I was reminded of a passage in the Bible. "As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more." Nicholas asked, why had I come to France? I could have answered that I had been fascinated by WW II since I was a teenager, but at that moment I realized there was more to it than curiosity. I told him that I didn't know -yet. With that we parted, four people connected by a cemetery.
David Cale (ImagesOfTheJourney) > Turning south from there I came to what seemed to me the saddest and most disturbing place of all. The German Cemetery at La Camba. In the centre, on top of a large grassy mound, surrounded by red roses stand two shrouded figures.
David Cale (ImagesOfTheJourney) > Sunset Of Lives This is the Canadian Cemetery at Juno Beach. Canadians provided 1 in 5 of all the troops landed on D-Day. So many of the dates on the headstones were June 6,1944. These Canadians did this for us all, and paid with their lives.
David Cale (ImagesOfTheJourney) > View of Dieppe beach from the German gun positions. The truth is that Stalin was threatening to sue for peace with Hitler on the verge of taking Moscow, Stalingrad, and Leningrad. Not only that but Roosevelt did not like Churchill's plan to go to North Africa first. He wanted to take on Hitler in France right away. Churchill gave Mountbatten the job of mounting a mini invasion.... AND PROVE IT COULD NOT BE DONE YET. (source Gen. Denis Whitaker in his book Dieppe Tragedy to Triumph) So the bombing of the guns by Bomber Harris was called off at the last minute, no battle ship was sent to provide fire support and the Canadians were slaughtered.
David Cale (ImagesOfTheJourney) > I felt an impossible yearning, to have been there, to have fought evil, at a time before ambiguity, when "They" were bad and "We" were good. The last "righteous war." One that had to be fought as the possibility of the Nazis gaining world domination was quite simply, not an option that could be entertained. But was this a righteous war? Not many would argue that WW1 was, and this war after all was in a way WW1 part 2. There is a dichotomy that fuels all wars, "them and us". Patriotism is defined by this and it is usually expressed religiously... God is on our side, and it is God's will that we fight and kill the "evildoers". I realize now that I was yearning to have a sense of meaning that is one of wars most addictive and seductive traits. War is like heroin to many. Its most potent effects are, escape from the mundane consumer life, the rush of feverish emotion at patriotic rallies, the incredible brotherhood of the battlefield which is often more intense and meaningful than marriage, the adulation of those back home, and of course women.
La Place Du Canada
One of these old bullet scarred German bunkers remains, renamed "Place du Canada." The Queen's Own Rifles memorial plaque describes the battle that day which and asks you to try to imagine what it was like.

The trouble was I couldn't and suspected that only those actually there could ever grasp what took place. I took a deep breath. The salt spray smelled of the iodine rich seaweed strewn on the beach, the surf crashed and roared, and the grey-green sea was empty of the madness of men.
David Cale (ImagesOfTheJourney) > La Place Du Canada One of these old bullet scarred German bunkers remains, renamed "Place du Canada." The Queen's Own Rifles memorial plaque describes the battle that day which and asks you to try to imagine what it was like. The trouble was I couldn't and suspected that only those actually there could ever grasp what took place. I took a deep breath. The salt spray smelled of the iodine rich seaweed strewn on the beach, the surf crashed and roared, and the grey-green sea was empty of the madness of men.
La Place Du Canada
One of these old bullet scarred German bunkers remains, renamed "Place du Canada." The Queen's Own Rifles memorial plaque describes the battle that day which and asks you to try to imagine what it was like.

The trouble was I couldn't and suspected that only those actually there could ever grasp what took place. I took a deep breath. The salt spray smelled of the iodine rich seaweed strewn on the beach, the surf crashed and roared, and the grey-green sea was empty of the madness of men.
See photo in original gallery.
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This site and my photography business have developed from a passion for wonder, for wandering and for story telling. In the past few years I have traveled to more than 700 cities and places in pursuit of wonders from which come my stories and photographs.

IMAGES OF THE JOURNEY PHOTOGRAPHY


High quality photographs that capture the essence of exotic travel which will bring that blank wall in your office or home to life. Photo gifts, calendars, clothing, are also available.
We are located about 20km (12mi) NW of the Toronto International Airport in the city of Brampton, Ontario, Canada.
My services include travel photojournalism, political or commercial event photography (no weddings).If you are in the home decorating business then call for wholesale pricing. Images or stories on this site may not be used for personal or commercial use without written permission or purchase from this site.
NOTE Many charitable or non profit organizations (NGOs) will be eligible to use these photos, or my services for NO FEE (expenses only) Contact me at david@imagesofthejourney.com or 416-890-0740.

copyright 1996-2009 David Cale [Images Of The Journey Photography] All Rights Reserved