My War Page.
Canada House Juno Beach
In Pace Paratus
This house was liberated at first light on D Day, 6 June 1944, by men of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada who were the first Canadians to land on this beach. It may very well have been the first house on French soil liberated by seaborne Allied Forces. Within sight of this house, over 100 men of The Queen's Own Rifles were killed or wounded, in the first few minutes of the landings.
There was also fighting inside the Hoffer house, as Canadians cleared the building of enemy troops. Another veteran, who returned to visit in 2009, left this message in Hoffer’s guest book: “Ernie Kells, Queen’s Own Rifles — one of five soldiers who arrived at this house on D-Day, now 84 years old. Sorry about throwing grenades into your cellar.”
Every year on 1 June, Hoffer would light and hang a paraffin lantern on the balcony of his house. After sunset on 6 June, he carried the lantern over the sand and down to the water, where waded to his waist in the English Channel before throwing the lantern into the sea — often with a bagpiper serenading. He called it “a symbolic gesture to the Canadians who came that day from the sea to give us back our freedom.”
Hoffer died in January 2017, leaving the house and its artifacts to his wife and children.
Canada House Juno Beach
In Pace Paratus
This house was liberated at first light on D Day, 6 June 1944, by men of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada who were the first Canadians to land on this beach. It may very well have been the first house on French soil liberated by seaborne Allied Forces. Within sight of this house, over 100 men of The Queen's Own Rifles were killed or wounded, in the first few minutes of the landings.
There was also fighting inside the Hoffer house, as Canadians cleared the building of enemy troops. Another veteran, who returned to visit in 2009, left this message in Hoffer’s guest book: “Ernie Kells, Queen’s Own Rifles — one of five soldiers who arrived at this house on D-Day, now 84 years old. Sorry about throwing grenades into your cellar.”
Every year on 1 June, Hoffer would light and hang a paraffin lantern on the balcony of his house. After sunset on 6 June, he carried the lantern over the sand and down to the water, where waded to his waist in the English Channel before throwing the lantern into the sea — often with a bagpiper serenading. He called it “a symbolic gesture to the Canadians who came that day from the sea to give us back our freedom.”
Hoffer died in January 2017, leaving the house and its artifacts to his wife and children.