Second World War (1939-1945)
The Navy in European Waters  - D-Day and the Normandy Landings

Over 100 Canadian warships and some 10,000 Canadian sailors supported D-Day, the 6 June 1944 landings in Normandy. Canadian ships and sailors helped protect the invasion fleet, cleared German minefields, and ferried Allied troops across the Channel.

Officers of the 260th and 262nd Flotillas

In this photograph, officers from two of the three Canadian landing craft flotillas pose in front of HMS Victory in Portsmouth, England.

Lieutenant Young (left), Sub-Lieutenant Dave Moon (second from left), and Lieutenant J.E. O'Rourke (second from right), the commanding officer of LCI(L) 249, stand beside the executive officer of the Canadian 262nd Flotilla. The Victory, Lord Nelson's famous flagship at the battle of Trafalgar, was in Portsmouth's #2 Drydock. Grant took at least three photos of the ship and noted in another caption that these four men were "in the shadow of Nelson."

George Metcalf Archival Collection
CWM 20020039-001_p13h