101-Year-Old Canadian Veteran Jim Parks

Greatest Generation Live welcomes one of the last surviving Canadian veterans of D-Day, Jim Parks, for a conversation about his extraordinary journey from the beaches of Normandy to the final victory over Nazi Germany. Jim enlisted in the Canadian Army while still underage and spent nearly three years training in Britain before landing with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944. Assigned to arrive just ahead of the main assault, his landing craft struck an obstacle and he was forced to swim ashore without his rifle. From that chaotic beginning, Jim fought through the brutal Normandy campaign at Putot and Carpiquet, crossed Belgium and the Netherlands, battled at the Leopold Canal and in the Rhineland, and finished the war in Germany as a sergeant. Jim has a remarkable gift for storytelling. He vividly recalls the confusion and terror of the invasion, the comrades he lost, the small moments of humanity that sustained soldiers in combat, and the challenges of returning home after the war. His reflections remind us that history is made not only by armies and generals, but by ordinary young people asked to do extraordinary things. Joining Glenn Flickinger as co-hosts are history teacher at Crestwood Preparatory College Scott Masters and author, historian Marc Milner. Marc is a Canadian military and naval historian, author of several books including SECOND FRONT: Anglo-American Rivalry and the Hidden Story of the Normandy Campaign. He is Director of the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick. Together they will help place Jim’s experiences in the broader story of Canada’s pivotal role on D-Day and the liberation of Northwest Europe by exploring the campaign, Jim’s life before and after the war, and the importance of preserving these firsthand memories for future generations. For more information about Crestwood’s Oral History Project, visit: https://ohp.crestwood.on.ca/ Bring your questions and join us for out conversation with someone who can tell us what it was like to come ashore on D-Day.