D-Day: Another view

An insightful letter in the Globe and Mail

The real D-Day feat

Bert Loehner
Vancouver

Re 'Hour Of Deliverance' (editorial, June 9): In the past few days, I have read stories in The Globe and Mail regarding the sacrifices made by Canada's soldiers during D-Day. As a Canadian, I have nothing but respect for our veterans and their achievements during the war, but I have always had mixed emotions regarding this type of celebration. I am one of those few Canadians whose father was a soldier in the German army.

My father was not a evil man. He was not a Nazi. He was not even at Normandy. He went to war in Poland, then France, then Yugoslavia, then the Soviet Union. He was captured by the Russians in Czechoslovakia at the end of the war. He was a German patriot and, as such, was blinded to the fact that he served an evil regime.

I have lived in Germany as part of my career in the pulp and paper industry. The new generation of Germans truly understands the high cost of tyranny. They know that Germans suffered at the hands of the Allies and at the hands of their own perverted leadership. They also know that Germany will forever bear the guilt for German war atrocities, and are united in their conviction that such a thing will never happen to Germany again.

This shift in German thinking is among the great feats Canadian veterans accomplished when they ran up the beaches of Normandy. As a Canadian of German ancestry, I cannot offer gratitude that will adequately thank our veterans for their sacrifice. All I can say is Danke.