Regina journalist finding the fallen heroes of D-Day

Regina journalist Chris Harris is searching for the fallen heroes of D-Day from Canada and Saskatchewan to photograph their graves.

It started with one Saskatchewan soldier's story.

Two years ago, Harris was writing a story about Sgt. Georges Richard La Croix, a Saskatchewan soldier who died the night before the Normandy invasion, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

La Croix was one of the first of more than 350 Canadians to die on the Normandy coast as the Allied forces battled their way inland to liberate France from German occupation during the Second World War.

Harris learned that La Croix, a member of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, was shot after his glider crash landed behind enemy lines in a field near Saint-Vaast-en-Auge, France.

A farmer found the solider's helmet and it was eventually taken back to Saskatchewan by La Croix's sister.

This year, the helmet was returned to La Croix's grave and Harris made arrangements through the Juno Beach Centre to be in Normandy to film the helmet's homecoming.

Harris has always wanted to visit the Canadian cemeteries of Normandy and to take part in the D-Day celebrations.

He began to compile a list of the dead and says he's discovered that 65 Saskatchewan soldiers "paid the ultimate price" on June 6, 1944.

"So I took it upon myself to decide to go to the cemeteries and take pictures of the graves of those 65 Saskatchewan soldiers," Harris said.

He plans on donating his gravesite photos to the Saskatchewan government, so that they can be used for the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019.

Reddit requests

Harris hasn't stopped at just finding and photographing Saskatchewan's fallen soldiers. 

His father told him about how an American had posted on a web page asking for someone to take a picture of his relative's grave at a cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. Harris's father fulfilled the man's request and was thanked for his efforts.

Harris decided to do the same thing for Canadians. 

He took to Reddit, a social news website, offering to take photos of grave sites for people who had loved ones buried in Normandy. 

"The response has just been tremendous and it's been very powerful to be a part of that for so many families. I have fulfilled 28 at this point and I got quite a few more to go," Harris said.

"The story lines that are actually happening with all these people is just amazing."

Harris has received inquiries from Canadians from almost every province. As the requests started to roll in, Harris noticed that the appeal for photos were for the graves of great uncles rather than grandfathers.

"That made me think for a second and while I was walking the rows upon rows of graves that are at Bény-sur-Mer, which is the biggest of the Canadian cemeteries, it kind of struck me all at once, these men were too young to have families," said Harris.

Harris said he saw headstones from people aged 18, 19 and 20 years old. He also saw one for a major who was only 25. 

"These people gave the ultimate sacrifice before they were even able to experience life themselves," he said .

Through further research, he learned that more than 40 per cent of the Saskatchewan male population signed up for the Second World War and enlisted. 

"It's an interesting exercise to think about their motivation to enlist and go to this country they have never been to before and fight for someone else's freedom. It's really thought provoking," he said.

Harris said he's been inspired by the thanks he has received and wants to take his project further.