Memories of D-Day invasion still fresh for Sask. veteran on 75th anniversary

It's been 75 years since the D-Day invasion and Harold Hague still remembers it vividly.

"No words can explain the magnitude of the men and machines that were there on that hour, that day, that beach," he said.

"It's something to remember."

The 98-year-old from Earl Grey, Sask. — a village 54 kilometres north of Regina — says he still has dreams about the invasion and sometimes wakes up screaming.

He was one of nearly 150,000 Allied troops who invaded the beaches of Normandy in France on June 6, 1944, to fight the Nazi occupation. About 14,000 of those troops were Canadian.

It is estimated nearly 4,500 Allied troops died during the D-Day invasion.

Hague said he was invited to Ottawa this year for a ceremony but declined due to health reasons.

Instead he'll stay in Regina, where he lives now, and pay his respects to those who didn't make it home. He hopes others will do the same.

"I hope they think about the guys that didn't come back, the guys that were prepared to give their life so we could live in a free society, freedom to think and freedom to live."

Hague praised the Royal Canadian Legion for its dedication to teaching people about the importance of D-Day as a way to honour those who served, and continue to serve, in the military.

'I thought honestly we would never get out of it'

Hague recounted his experiences in the invasion during an interview with CBC in 2018.

The decorated veteran joined the Royal Canadian Navy at 19 and became a member of the 31st Canadian Minesweeper Flotilla.

During the invasion he was on a ship clearing enemy mines. He remembered the morning of the invasion in his 2018 CBC interview.

"I was on the bridge and I looked on the horizon. It was daybreak. I could see the images of all the ships as far as the eye could see," he said.

"To see that, and to witness what was coming in, and to witness what went over our head, the aircrafts and paratroopers — it was scary.… I thought honestly we would never get out of it."

Hague said he'll never forget seeing bullets flying and bombs going off, while being surrounded by bodies.

"Some of them were alive and we tried to, against all rules, pull them out, but we weren't successful," he said.

"It was like the whole world exploded."

His most vivid memory is hearing wounded soldiers calling out for their mothers.

"We had a lot of heroes," he said with tears in his eyes.

The Allied forces took hold of the beaches after hours of battle. It was a crucial step on the way to liberating Europe from Nazi occupation.

"The whole Canadian nation had to work hard — not just the guys in uniform, but the whole nation," he said.

"Everybody suffered a hardship."

'Beginning of the end'

Ron Hitchcock, president of the Royal Canadian Legion in Regina, describes the D-Day invasion as "the beginning of the end."

"The lifestyle and the freedom we enjoy today started on on June 6, 1944, when [Allied troops] invaded Europe," he said.

"And in less than one year they had freedom there."

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day on Thursday, the Regina legion is having an outdoor barbecue, with bagpipers playing music. The legion will also have its museum at 1820 Cornwall St. open.

"We're hoping that people will stop in for lunch, stop in for a tour of the museum and see the history of that day and other days in our military history," Hitchcock said. "It features Canadians only, and particularly people from Regina and Saskatchewan."

He said it's important to honour people who fought and contributed to the invasion now more than ever.

"The sad thing is that the next milestone will be 80, and there probably won't be any surviving veterans of that era at that time," said Hitchcock.

"Therefore, we need to to keep that memory alive, keep it in focus that that our freedom came at a price and a great sacrifice, and we need to honour the men and women that today provide us with that freedom that we enjoy."