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The AIH Transcript for June 6, 2019

Hosts: Carol Off and Daemon Fairless

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello I'm Carol Off.

DAEMON FAIRLESS: Good evening. I'm Daemon Fairless. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

DF: Tonight...

CO: Bringing their point home. People in the town of Uxbridge, Ontario, hold a parade in honor of its last surviving D-Day veteran -- and it will go right past Fred Barnard's front door.

DF: Striking a chord by pulling a cord. 75 years ago, Harry Read parachuted into Normandy --and tonight we'll speak with the 95-year-old Mr. Read about re-enacting that jump.

CO: Behind enemy lies. Months before D-Day a special agent sneaks into France only to realize the Nazis have blown her cover -- but it didn't stop Sonya D'Artois from laying part of the groundwork for the Allied invasion.

DF: Unsafe travels. Our guest says she was raped at a resort in the Dominican Republic -- and that despite changes the website, Trip Advisor, still isn't doing enough to warn other vacationers about her experience.

CO: Caught green-handed. Three men in California are charged with poaching wild succulents -- plants they plan to sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's become a perennial problem.

DF: And the song was released in 1995 but it came out in 2019. Country singer Ty Herndon re-records one of his biggest love songs with all the "she's" changed to "he's" -- to finally reflect the truth about his sexuality. As It Happens. The Thursday Edition. Radio that knows it's never too late to set the record not-straight.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: 95-year-old D-Day vet says parachuting over Normandy the 2nd time was 'absolutely brilliant'

Uxbridge D-Day Parade

Guest: Tish MacDonald

DF: 75 years ago today, thousands of troops waited from rocking landing-craft onto the beaches of Normandy. And today in France and around the world surviving veterans, members of the military, and politicians, gathered to remember the anniversary of D-Day. Here is what Canadian ceremonies sounded like in Halifax.

SOUNDCLIP

[Gun sounds]

[Trumpet playing]

VOICE 1: We must remember this crucial battle. We must remember the amazing accomplishments that were made on that day 6 June 1944. And we must remember the lives that were lost.

VOICE 2: Present arms!

[Bagpipe playing]

VOICE 3: Only those who threw themselves against the walls of the fortress of Europe in Normandy know the full extent of what unfolded here 75 years ago.

[Drum beating and singing]

VOICE 4: We who are left -- modern science shall never again cure our wounds for injuries are in our minds, and we alone with time and rest will decide in our future and fates.

[Military band]

DF: With surviving D-Day veterans in their 90's, and in some cases over 100 years old, many haven't been able to attend D-Day ceremonies in person. But one Ontario town has found a solution. Tonight people in Uxbridge, Ontario, are holding a parade on the doorstep of the town's last surviving D-Day veteran, Fred Barnard. Tish MacDonald is a friend of Mr. Barnard who's organizing the tribute. We reached her in Uxbridge.

CO: Tish how do you think Fred Barnard is going to react when he hears there's going to be a parade in his honor tonight?

TISH MACDONALD: Well as he's very quiet and shy man I think he may be a little bit overwhelmed with the parade and the ceremony. However I believe that it will answer his question -- he's asked me a few times that he wonders whether anybody remembers his service. And hopefully through this parade and ceremony it will be a demonstration that people are remembering his service and that hopefully he feels loved and valued.

CO: Why are you doing this -- what inspired you?

TM: Well I've known Fred for a number of years -- and I am somebody in the community that has a wonderful association with our veterans. With today being the 75th anniversary of D-Day I thought it was an excellent opportunity to show yet again one of our other veterans -- a D-Day veteran -- Fred, that we appreciate his service and that we value what he did. And we just really want to say thank you.

CO: What's the plan for the parade then? What's it going to look like?

TM: Well actually the parade is going to be on a residential street which of course isn't normally the norm but we needed to make sure that we brought the parade and the ceremony to Fred. As he doesn't get out that much anymore, we thought we needed to do it on his street. So literally it's going to go from house number 35 to house number 17 on Campbell Drive, so not a sight that you would normally be seeing. When the parade finishes everybody will be gathering on the lawn and that's where we will basically do a ceremony of thanks for Fred.

CO: And what's involved in the parade? Who and what will take part?

TM: So we have Uxbridge Legion Pipes and Drums. We have the Uxbridge Fire. We have Uxbridge Legion. We have some members from the Queen's Own Rifles -- which we're delighted to have them as that was Fred's past regiment. We have some cadets. And we have some dignitaries parading so it'll hopefully be a large group -- and some veterans -- some of our veterans are actually marching.

CO: And Fred Barnard at this point has no idea that you're going to be showing up [laughs] on his front lawn tonight with a parade past his house?

TM: No he doesn't yet. As I said he's pretty shy and quiet and he doesn't get out much, so we're actually going to gently bring it up to him this afternoon just because he is a quiet gentleman.

CO: And how do you think he's going to feel when you all arrive there?

TM: Well I know it'll be quite overwhelming for him, but we're hoping that he reacts well obviously. And we just hope that he has an opportunity to feel loved and supported and feel the thanks that's really collected out there on his lawn.

CO: How did you get this idea?

TM: Well it actually started with -- we were going to do a letter writing campaign, first, of messages of thanks. And then in conversation with his daughter, I just asked her whether we thought maybe we could do a parade. And she thought yeah that might be a good idea. And then we're adding an element of remembrance to it as well with doing Last Post -- and again clarifying that with his daughter, and she said she thought that would be lovely. He's a man with a military tradition so we wanted to make sure that we did the parade and just really showed him the respect in the manner that he deserved.

CO: Talk a bit about who Fred Barnard is and what he did because he was a rifleman as you mentioned with the Queen's Own Rifles and they stormed Juno Beach on D-Day. But he has said elsewhere he was pretty well the first one on the beach and managed to survive without being shot. At that point, what has he told you about the experience of that day?

TM: Well when they were coming up in the landing craft. He and his brother were both in the same landing craft. His brother was about six people ahead of him and he remembers kind of tapping him on the back and saying, "Give'em hell Don." And those were the last words that he ever spoke to his brother. His brother -- when the gate opened -- his brother went out first. And then Fred actually came upon the beach -- a few steps up on the beach -- and did find his brother with a single bullet hole in his chest. But amidst the chaos, Fred couldn't delay -- he had to keep going, and they were really just trying to get up to the wall -- to the seawall -- where there was a little bit more cover.

CO: You know I found this little site -- this website -- describing the Queen's Own Rifles arriving on Juno Beach. I just want to read a bit of this -- it's so amazing. What Fred Barnard must have seen. This is a Sergeant Major who says the moment the ramp came down, heavy machine gun fire broke out from somewhere back on the seawall. Mortars were dropping all over the beach. The men rose. Starboard line turning right -- port turning left. And they yelled, 'Move! Fast! Don't stop for anything. Go. Go. Go.' As they left the boat and headed to the beach. And that would have been what Fred Barnard was going through as he hit the beach and saw his brother killed.

TM: Absolutely. They were supposed to land approximately 200 yards away but just with the drift -- they were in the rough seas -- that morning they drifted a little bit and they ended up landing right at Bernieres-sur-Mer -- right in front of a German resistance nest -- a very heavily fortified German resistance nest. So what they faced there was very intense. Many men killed -- just intense fighting.

CO: The Queen's Own Rifles -- his regiment and his unit -- they took the highest casualties among the Canadian regiments that landed on D-Day. 143 of them were killed, wounded, or captured. It was just a huge price they all paid, wasn't it?

TM: Yeah. When you visit the Bernieres-sur-Mer cemetery in France, and that's where Fred's brother Donald is buried, and you walk down the rows of the graves and you're just looking at the engraving on the gravestones it's 'Queen's Own Rifles. Age 19. Queen's Own Rifles. Age 20.' Right? It's absolutely overpowering to look at this beautiful graveyard and just the impact that you can actually feel when you're walking around the graves and just seeing the age -- these young men just killed -- and they all volunteered. They were all volunteers at that time.

CO: In 2007 Fred Barnard was awarded the Legion of Honor by the French government. And he was incredibly modest -- he said that at the time there were all kinds of guys who did what I did. Do you think he will have the same reaction tonight to your parade?

TM: Absolutely. It's just part of who he is. He's a very modest and humble man. We just want to make sure that we're letting him know that as a community that we thank him.

CO: Tish it is just a lovely idea and I wish I could be there tonight to see Fred's face. But thank you so much for speaking with us.

TM: Oh thank you for having me.

DF: Tish MacDonald is a friend of Fred Barnard who's the last surviving D-Day veteran in Uxbridge, Ontario.

[Music]

War Vet Parachuter

Guest: Harry Read

DF: UK military veteran Harry Read is taking a hands-on approach to marking the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Yesterday, the 95-year-old leaped out of a plane over Normandy -- re-enacting the jump he made as a young man with the UK's 6th Airborne Division. We reached Harry Read in Carbourg, France.

CO: Harry can you take us back to that moment yesterday when you stepped out of that plane above Normandy.

HARRY READ: It was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I really have to express it in the most warm words. It was a delight.

CO: But you said someplace else -- you said it's a stupid thing to do at my age.

HARRY READ: Well it is really. You know anyone I would think over the age of 65 to contemplate a sky dive -- well any kind of parachute jump really but especially a skydive -- have got to be thinking unwisely.

CO: But you did it at 95.

HARRY READ: [Chuckles] I know.

CO: But it must have brought back memories for you. You haven't done that since 75 years ago when you did it for the first time. What was going through your mind as you were in the air yesterday?

HARRY READ: It was sheer pleasure. Comparing the two -- it's not a very good comparison because 75 years ago we were going into action. We had a war on our hands that had to be won. Our very future was at stake. The war had to be fought. It was a sheer necessity for us to do so.

CO: And you were 20 years old at that point -- and because you were a paratrooper you were going in with wireless equipment. You had a battery the size and weight of a toolbox strapped to your leg when you did that jump 75 years ago.

HARRY READ: Yes that is true. And people waiting for me on the ground who didn't want me there.

CO: Did you land where you were supposed to land?

HARRY READ: We were absolutely spot on time at 10 minutes to 1:00 in the morning of the 6th of June. We were on time but in the wrong place. The Germans, in their military wisdom, had flooded the area deliberately from a nearby river so that the water would be a six foot deep and a large number of men went into it -- some 192 men drowned in that one exercise in that one place.

CO: Good heavens. Were you able to get the battery off your leg before you sunk?

HARRY READ: [Laughs] I landed with the battery on my leg because I hadn't been able to release it. But because I landed in water and it started sort of damaging my leg -- breaking my leg or whatever -- I had a soft landing. And because the Germans were confident that in their defence with this flooding system the area wasn't alive with opposition -- although I didn't know at the time. So I landed, took the battery off my leg, and put my gun together and looked around to see who was waiting to kill me and lo and behold no one was there to do that.

CO: Did you know before you went on this mission and you jumped into that area -- did you know that this was the big day, that this was D-Day?

HARRY READ: Oh yes we knew. We had known for a long time. In fact our 6th Airborne Division was created for that very purpose. They had no other purpose than to spearhead the reoccupation of France.

CO: When they told you that it was likely that 50 percent of you would not survive -- that that would be the casualty rate on landing -- how did you take that information in? They were not hiding that from you. How did you process that?

HARRY READ: It's a very good question. Young men think that they're indestructible. But my own reaction was to find a quiet place in the camp and sort of reassess this information we had been given, and how I was going to face up to it days ahead. And I came to the conclusion that though the odds were against me returning I would be as good a soldier as I know how.

CO: You survived that and you are aware of the others who didn't. I understand you were at the cemetery where some of your colleagues, your comrades, are laid to rest. What was that like for you? How important was it for you to go to that cemetery yesterday?

HARRY READ: It was of crucial importance to me. We lost a lot of friends and I tend to be very emotional here. I stand in the cemetery and find that I can hardly speak -- and I weep.

CO: Harry I'm so sorry.

HARRY READ: I think it's the reaction of very many men. But the sacrifices are enormous -- and some very precious friendships that I lost forever. And I find it very difficult not to be deeply moved.

CO: Well Harry we are deeply moved as well. And I'm glad you were able to have that wonderful experience yesterday of jumping again and it's a pleasure to speak with you. Thank you.

HARRY READ: That's my pleasure.

CO: Bye bye.

HARRY READ: Bye bye. God bless.

DF: We reached Harry Read in Carbourg, France. And to see the video of Mr. Read's jump, go to our website: cbc.ca/aih. And coming up on "As It Happens" -- the story of Sonya D'Artois, a British secret agent whose work behind enemy lines helped set the stage for D-Day.

[Music]

Ty Herndon

Guest: Ty Herndon

DF: May, 1995. "Braveheart" hit cinemas. Jacques Chirac becomes the new French president. And this song is in the number one spot on the Billboard Hot Country charts.

SOUNDCLIP

[Song: "What Mattered Most" by Ty Herndon]

DF: That's "What Mattered Most" by Nashville-based country singer, Ty Herndon. Well nearing the song's 25th anniversary Mr. Herndon remade that song. But it's not just a cash grab. It's a chance for him to make some important corrections.

SOUNDCLIP

[Song: New version of "What Mattered Most" by Ty Herndon -- with "he" instead of "she"].

DF: The object of the singer's affection is "he" now instead "she." Ty Herndon came out as gay in 2014 and this year as a way to celebrate Pride Month, he's rewritten his greatest hit. We reached Mr. Herndon in Nashville, Tennessee.

CO: Ty how does it feel to finally perform "What Mattered Most" singing about him?

TY HERNDON: You know it's 25 years that I've been singing that song -- it hit me all at once when I was doing the video, and 25 years of my story came tumbling down on my head. And we got some of that emotion. But I had to stop the filming for a little bit because I was like "oh my gosh I can't believe I'm getting this emotional about this song."

CO: You didn't realize that that was going to hit you like that.

TH: I didn't. You know I'm a pretty tough bird. I've been through a lot but that whole song started it all. And all these years of singing it one way and then being able to sing it another with bunch of my family and best friends sitting around and this is the first time they heard it as well. So I'm like "Oh goodness gracious we're having church up in here -- everybody's crying." [Chuckles]

CO: But this was at the number one spot in the Billboard Hot Country charts in 1995 when you were singing it about "her." And if you had not -- if you could you have imagine in 1995 and the country scene actually doing the song the way you wanted to do it, what would have been the response?

TH: You know that would have been impossible. And we've come a long way in country. But you know I lived in fear of my sexuality for a long time and it caused a lot of problems in my life. To sing it that way 25 years ago was never in my mind. We might have sang it on the tour bus a few times that way with the band but you know I knew that I would probably be quite honestly taking my life in my hands if I did that.

CO: So not just that you wouldn't have hit number one on the charts but it would have been physically dangerous for you to sing that song 25 years ago the way you wanted to?

TH: Yeah -- and you know in some parts of the planet and world today, it's still dangerous. But you know that's part of my journey to change hearts and minds. You know I really don't get very political out there. I get asked a lot about the political scene but when I talk to senators and leaders in the community my big question is 'hey do you know the statistics of suicide of your kids 14 and under -- your LGBTQ kids?' And a lot of times they don't. I'm awfully glad when they do. But most times they don't. And that's part of my journey -- to change hearts and minds and save lives. And that's why I decided to do this song this way on its birthday so I gave it a gift.

CO: You knew you were gay in 1995 didn't you?

TH: Absolutely yes. You know I grew up in south Alabama actually with a pretty affirming family -- from a religious church family, but I wanted to be in country music -- I wanted to be in a business -- you know that just didn't fit with what I wanted to do for a living. So went to great lengths to hide it and you know it almost cost me my life a couple of times. But as my awesome mom says you know we're glad we didn't lose you but it sure did become an awesome story for you. And I use that story to talk to kids today like you don't have to take this -- this doesn't have to be this way.

CO: And you were singing those lyrics in original form -- the 25 years that you sang it -- the lyrics, "I thought I knew the girl so well, if she was sad I couldn't tell. Her eyes were blue. Her hair is long." Did you feel phony? How did you put your heart into that when you knew that that wasn't who you were?

TH: Well I can tell you this I've always taken music very seriously and one of my number one rules is I really don't sing it unless I've lived it. My mom and dad had this great love story you know and so I would often close my eyes while singing that song and think about them. It wasn't easy for them but they made it through some struggles. But what a lot of people don't know during that time I'd been in a relationship for almost 14 years with a gorgeous guy that had blue eyes and long hair you know. A lot of times I would close my eyes and sing that for him. Now today I've been in a relationship for nine years with the love of my life and we were laughing just the other night -- he said, "Well that's the first I've heard of that story." I said, "Well it won't be the last you hear of it." [Laughter]

CO: And when you did finally come out in 2014 what were the conditions -- what made that possible for you at that time?

TH: Well you know I had become a very healthy man. And I had been through a lot of addiction struggles and I just was living very authentically in my skin. But this was the one thing that wasn't authentic because a lot of the industry already knew that I was gay and I was being asked to do a lot of things for HRC, and GLAD, and Trevor Project, which are huge organizations and I couldn't do them. So I was really struggling with it. And (I) have a really good friend named Shelly Wright -- and I'll be on the stage with her tonight because tonight is our concert for love and acceptance which we'll talk about in a minute -- but she counseled me through, 'look you have to be prepared to walk away from this. You have to be prepared to go and get a job and take care of your family and not even be in the music business. You have to prepare yourself just to be happy.' I went in that direction and I was fully prepared to walk away from my career just to live authentically with honesty and love. And by the grace of God I didn't have to do that. My industry has embraced me enough. I went on to get a Grammy nomination, and I'm working 150 days a year. And I realized that it could all stop tomorrow but I'm grateful for it today.

CO: So if you were just starting out -- let's say today you were just starting out in Nashville in country and you wanted to sing, you wanted to perform, would you keep your sexuality secret?

TH: No -- absolutely not. You know I produce and work with some amazing artists that are on the up and coming -- and so I was looking for something really special to do for this song on its 25th anniversary and that just seemed the right thing to do -- to show these kids that you know I'm brave enough to sing it this way and you guys you're brave enough to come to Nashville and if you want to be in this community that it's safe, you know it's changed. It's generational. It's definitely changed.

CO: You're going to do this concert tonight.

TH: Yes! Last night was Country Music Television Awards -- and that was super fun. But tonight is our concert for love and acceptance. I started this the year I came out because I wanted to do something during the Country Music Festival in Nashville, Tennessee, that showed love and acceptance for our community. We have gone from about 300 people to a sold out show of about 5000 people tonight over the last five years.

CO: Is your mom going to be there?

TH: Front and centre. [Laughter]

CO: Ty I wish you all success and thank you so much.

TH: Thank you very much. God bless you guys and be happy and everybody out there continue to love and change hearts and minds.

CO: We hear you. Thanks.

DF: That was country singer Ty Herndon. His new version of "What Mattered Most" was released yesterday. We reached him in Nashville, Tennessee.

[Music]

Part 2: Trip Advisor

Trip Advisor

Guest: Christine Dayman

DF: Trip Advisor says it's taking sexual assault seriously because for months women have accused the travel website of not taking the reports of sexual assaults seriously enough. Some women say their reviews detailing assaults while on vacation ended up getting buried on the site Trip Advisor says it has made changes including being more transparent in its advertisements and offering sexual assault awareness training for employees. Christine Dayman is a Canadian who has complained about that issue. She wrote a review on Trip Advisor claiming she was sexually assaulted in the Dominican Republic. We reached her in Whitby, Ontario. And a word of warning: parts of this story are disturbing.

CO: Christine Trip Advisor has said it's giving employees new training around sexual assault awareness and it's trying to be transparent with customers when it advertises hotels and resorts. Are you satisfied with that?

CHRISTINE DAYMAN: Well not particularly. I don't think that would have made any sort of pragmatic difference in my experience with Trip Advisor. I never dealt with their staff. I'm not even aware that they have staff that interface with customers -- it's all online -- so having training, given that I never virtually or in any sort of human capacity interacted with staff, wouldn't have made any difference.

CO: I want to ask you about what happened. You were in this resort in the Dominican Republic. You had been there before. You were there with your family, with your two boys -- teenagers. I believe your mother was there.

CD: Yeah. My mother and my father. My father since passed away. But we did go there last March, and I'd done it four previous years actually -- always in the Dominican Republic and always in Punta Cana. The last night of my vacation I was walking back to my room. It was about quarter to 11:00 at night. I was walking by myself along a very very well lit thoroughfare -- very public and lots of people around at that time. A security guard who I had seen before patrol my area in the early morning kind of lumbered along behind me and surpassed me and kind of ushered me along. And my thought was just that he felt he needed to escort me home which he didn't at all. But he escorted me up to my room area -- what I thought was my room it turned out to be the wrong building. The two buildings looked exactly alike and could be easily confused. He took my keycard from me at what I thought was my door -- put it in. It didn't work. I gestured to him -- no words were spoken at any point and turned on my heel to walk away. And that's when he pushed me -- many many feet, and I landed against the wall of the open area. Then he had me against the wall and that's when I was raped at that point. And then he left and went flying down the stairs. I went running the other direction and into my building and was hysterical once I got up to my room where my two boys were and that's when it all sunk in what had happened.

CO: Christine I'm so sorry.

CD: Oh thank you.

CO: You'd seen this man before and he was the security guard -- you knew this is exactly...

CD: Oh he was a security guard. There was no doubt about that. I saw him every morning because every morning I got up at six o'clock sharp to go for a run and I would see him outside my building and he would have observed me every single morning. He would have known that was my last night. He never saw me with a male chaperone which I didn't have I was single. He never saw me with my children. So he figured you know I was probably single and in my room. So I feel that he planned this out purposefully.

CO: When you told the hotel in the morning, how did they respond?

CD: They responded in a very laid back casual informal manner. I went first at the front desk. I had to wait around for about an hour until there was a manager to speak to -- a security manager. Meanwhile I'm in an office that had cleaning staff coming in and out. It didn't seem to be private or taken very seriously. I had to fill out an incident report which is the same report you'd use if you fell on the steps or something. I did say I could identify the man -- I knew exactly who he was, and they said don't worry we will find him we know exactly who he is and we will make sure we take action. At that point I wasn't in the mindset of thinking in criminal terms or thinking any of it. I was still kind of in shock. They never offered me police -- never offered me medical which I knew soon thereafter I should have done while I was there.

CO: You didn't get any satisfaction out of the resort -- why did you decide to go to Trip Advisor?

CD: Well it wasn't a big decision -- it was the first thing that popped in my head, well I'll write a review on Trip Advisor. And I detailed chronicled in first person and in explicit detail -- while reasonably -- what had happened to me and as a warning. But it was to absolutely no recourse whatsoever because it got buried immediately. It just was useless in terms of it helping or serving any purpose to help anyone else.

CO: In fact we searched today on Trip Advisor and the reviews of that resort are very positive. It has an overall rating of four out of five stars. It talks about on Trip Advisor about the lake style pools and shopping malls. And there's no indication that anyone -- a woman should be concerned there...

CD: It's probably expired at this point -- given that it's over a year, I don't know how long it might possibly stay up. But there's no way to see it unless you scrolled down to the probably one thousand five hundred review -- you wouldn't even find it.

CO: We did find your review, so it's there but as you say you'd have to be looking for it among all the positive remarks about the pools.

CD: And it's mixed in with people's comments on towels and things like that -- that are not an issue of public safety.

CO: You know I remember when travel guides would start to issue instructions or warnings for women travelers, women travelling alone especially, and I often found them very useful. But what could Trip Advisor do -- what do you think they should be doing in order to help women who are traveling to be able to identify the places where they should not be going?

CD: I kind of think the most obvious thing to me is just that they should have a separate platform for safety and so they should have almost like two Trip Advisor: Trip Advisor for the towels and whatever and the quality of the room -- whatever it is. And then a Trip Advisor as a platform to post incidents that have happened to women at specific resorts. But I think Trip Advisor given to that they do so many of these resort type vacations people aren't aware that you can be very very in danger as a woman within the confines of the resort. You think as long as you don't go out into general society you're going to be safe, I'm staying at a five star resort, I'm not going to be in danger -- I would never have gone off the resort property, I'm cautious that way, I would never have done that particularly as a single woman. But I think even if I had a male escort I wouldn't have gone off the resort. So I played it safe -- I was on the five star resort. I didn't stay out late at night. I went along the main pathway and I still got raped by the security guard. That's how egregious that was.

CO: Trip Advisor says its recently launched a filter where users can search specifically for reviews concerning any kind of sexual assault or misconduct by the employees. Is that a good beginning?

CD: I think it's a good beginning but it still requires women to be very deliberate in looking for this information because generally that would only be victims -- people who have been victims already might go and search for that type of thing. But if you've never been a victim you're not necessarily going to be hunting for that sort of thing.

CO: Just to end -- telling people that the man who attacked you was fired from his job but no charges were ever laid.

CD: No -- no charges. I went back on the advice of the physician that I saw -- immediately upon returning to Canada I had to see a physician. He told me that given what had happened I needed to go to the police in Canada. So I followed his advice. Went to the Durham Police, filed a report, it was escalated to RCMP. They tried to deal with Dominican police but the Dominican police wouldn't launch an investigation unless I returned and had a physical and mental exam of some sort -- and I just didn't trust that anything would happen due to that. So nothing became of that.

CO: Christine I'm so sorry this happened to you, but I do appreciate that you're letting others know. Thank you.

CD: Oh you're welcome.

DF: Christine Dayman lives in Whitby, Ontario. Trip Advisor responded to our request for comment saying it's launched new safety features including sexual assault training for employees and allowing victims to write anonymous reviews. And its response acknowledges, quote, "more work still needs to be done to ensure travellers have the information they need to stay safe." We also requested comment from the resort Ms. Daymon visited last year but did not receive a response.

[Music]

WWII Spy

Guest: Marie Eve Vaillancourt

DF: Sonya D'Artois didn't make a big deal about her service in the Second World War. By the time she'd raised her family, the late Ms. D'Artois just quipped that she'd gone for mixing explosives in occupied France to mixing baby powder in a suburb of Montreal. But on D-Day, Sonya D'Artois was far behind enemy lines. She was an agent with Winston Churchill's Special Operations Executive. And she'd parachuted into France months before. Her mission was to set the stage for the invasion that began 75 years ago today. Marie Eve Vaillancourt has been working on Sonya D'Artois's story for an exhibit at the Juno Beach Centre in France. We reached Ms. Vaillancourt in Montreal.

CO: Marie Eve what is it about Sonya D'Artois that made you want to share her story?

MARIE EVE VAILLANCOURT: It's a very unique story. It's an incredible one. You start reading it -- it's the true superhero story yet it was her reality. And she was extremely humble about it which is even more striking.

CO: I'm looking at some pictures of her -- some photos -- there's a spirit of adventure you can just see there of mischief as well. But she was extremely brave, wasn't she?

MEV: She was pretty much reckless. [Chuckles] She was recruited for the SOE -- the Special Operations Executive Branch of the British army that recruited and trained special agents to be dropped behind enemy lines before D-Day.

CO: And they found that women -- they were far more effective in the resistance weren't they?

MEV: Well the thing with a young male that is not wearing a uniform in the Second World War is a red flag. And France was occupied, there were Gestapo officers everywhere, ruthless Nazi officers who hunted any type of spy or agent. And that's why Churchill invested a lot of resources in training these elite people that would perhaps sabotage German networks before D-Day.

CO: What happened when she was finally given her orders to parachute into France?

MEV: Sonya parachuted alone and she had a trunk with her during the parachute that contained all of the belongings that would enable her to have a double identity essentially that trunk was actually intercepted by Germans. They didn't find her but the trunk revealed her first identity she was supposed to take over. So she decided to forget that whole first story and and create another one. And she decided that she would get as close as possible to the enemy -- and I'm talking about Gestapo officers and SS officers that hung out in cafes and restaurants. And she hung out with them, flirted with them, and decided that if she was close enough to them they wouldn't suspect her. And that is a decision that is sheer courage and brazenness when you think about it because if these people -- SS officers or Gestapo officers -- discovered agents they would torture them with the most brutal techniques to their deaths. It was a huge risk.

CO: So she was hiding in plain sight.

MEV: That's right.

CO: What did she achieve? What was she able to do?

MEV: She was a specialist in small arms so she instructed a bunch of French males on how to assemble weapons. She made sure that the resistance networks would grow. She was an explosives expert so she trained the men on how to mix and create explosives so that she could conduct all kinds of night operations to destroy bridges, railroads, anything that would make it more difficult for German reinforcements to reach Normandy once the allies had landed in Normandy.

CO: She carried with her a pistol and some tablets, right? You want to tell us about that.

MEV: She operated for about six months before she got her first break and on one particular mission she was carrying American documents behind enemy lines and then going back to the Allied lines to carry documents and information. She was intercepted by suspicious Germans and because she had these American documents on her she decided to cooperate with the interrogations making sure that they would never search her and discover American documents on her which would basically sell the mission away so she actually was interrogated at gunpoint and eventually German soldiers decided to rape her and she endured that to protect the American documents and the mission which is really hard to imagine.

CO: She carried with her a suicide pill, didn't she?

MEV: Yes.

CO: Do you know anything about how close she came to feeling she had to use that?

MEV: In researching her and speaking with her daughter, there was no point in time that this was an option. She had some close calls. She still had a jacket that had bullet holes that almost killed her but she was of such a calm nature, and convinced that she could pull herself through anything that she never ended up having to use them and was relieved of her functions at some point in October. And you have to remember she had been parachuted behind enemy lines three months before D-Day -- that's like April. That's a long mission on the ground with no time off, no leave, no chance to really let go of the pressure and the stress.

CO: She met her French Canadian husband because they were both explosives experts, right? They both specialized in blowing things up and that's how they got together. Sounds strangely romantic, doesn't it?

MEV: Yeah. They met during training in England and they flirted as they were about to do their first jump out of an airplane. So the story goes that she winked at him before she jumped out of the airplane. So her nature is sort of revealed there in that moment when in the middle of her first parachute jump and she still has the calm nerves to keep on flirting with the guy that will eventually become her husband and the father of her six children. It's an unbelievable story.

CO: She has said herself, she went from mixing explosives to mixing baby powder in a suburb of Montreal. So how did she manage that transition?

MEV: She loved it. It was her dream, and she was very happy. I think she came from a broken family with some really rough upbringings -- so she had found her husband and she followed him to Montreal and was quite happy being a mom and living in peace in Montreal. I think there should be a monument to her in Montreal somewhere. Although she is of British origin she made and built her life in Canada and contributed to her community.

CO: Truly an unsung hero. And I'm so happy that you are bringing her to life for people and doing your research now Marie Eve. And yes I hope more people get to know this extraordinary woman. Thank you.

MEV: Thank you so much for having me.

DF: Mary Eve Vaillancourt is the Exhibitions Manager for the Juno Beach Centre Association. We reached her in Montreal.

[Music]

Metric system

DF: In April of 2006, Tucker Carlson announced he would no longer compliment his nondescript dark suits with the bow ties that had become his onscreen trademark. He hasn't worn one since. But he has kind of become one by which I mean that like a bow tie he's pompous, attention seeking, fusty, and kind of amusing -- intentionally or not. For example a segment on yesterday's episode of the Fox News program "Tucker Carlson Tonight" was predictably pompous, attention seeking, and fusty. But it also seems like it was intended to be amusing. Exhibit A: the frequent smirking of both Mr. Carlson and his guest, cultural critic James Panero. Exhibit B: the ridiculous title that came up when Mr. Carlson was first speaking, "The U.S. stands alone against the metric system."

SOUNDCLIP

TUCKER CARLSON: Almost every nation on earth has fallen under the yoke of tyranny: the metric system. From Beijing to Buenos Aries from Lusaka to London -- the people of the world have been forced to measure their environment in millimetres and [pronounces kylo-grams] kilograms. United States is the only major country that has resisted. But we have no reason to be ashamed for using feet and pounds. So says New Criterion editor James Panero. We spoke with him recently.

DF: Tucker Carlson's droll mispronunciation of "kilograms" signals that we're in for some fun. Like bow-tie-level fun. And indeed we were. Mr. Panero pronounced himself an anti-metrite, and began his argument with this knee-slapper.

SOUNDCLIP

JAMES PANERO: Well today as you mentioned the United States stands nearly alone in the world in maintaining customary measures -- the inch, the pound, the foot, the mile. And we should stand tall on our own two feet I say.

DF: Ah, les mots sort of juste! The two then discussed the history of the metric system. James Panero outlined the origins of measurements like the mile and the acre all of which are frankly weird. And then having established that modern metric is rooted in the French Revolution, Mr. Panero made this argument.

SOUNDCLIP

JAMES PANERO: The French Revolution went all in for 10. They tried to impose a 10 day week. 100 hours. 100 minutes. 100 seconds. They had a whole revolutionary calendar. Now the metric system with its tens is what remains of their radicalism. Now that sounds reasonable actually counting by 10 is pretty good. We have ten fingers -- you can count your money in 10. It's good for abstract calculations. It's not great for measuring things in the real world. There's a reason why our measurement system has 12s, 8s, and 60s -- it comes from ancient knowledge, ancient wisdom. From the Romans 12. And the Babylonians 60. Why? Because those numbers divide up evenly into thirds, fourths, halves, and enables common people to make calculations and to measure their lives without complex arithmetic. What's a third of a foot? It's four inches. What's a third of a metre? Thirty three point three something centimetres -- it doesn't even add up. You see the problem right there.

TUCKER CARLSON: I do see the problem and I've never heard it as eloquently expressed as you just did. I think you give a lot of us heart to keep fighting against the global tyranny of the metric system and bless you for that.

DF: Now some of you may be confused by Mr. Panero's remarks about...well everything he just said. So let me clear up any confusion: It's gibberish. So either they're serious which is embarrassing or they're aiming for amusing and faux-pompous and missing. Sort of like you know a bow tie.

[Music]

Kyle Lowry

DF: Game 3 of the NBA Finals took place last night in Oakland. And the Toronto Raptors led the injury-plagued Golden State Warriors for pretty much the whole evening -- eventually winning by a score of 123 to 109. Raptors point guard, Kyle Lowry, had an impressive game -- scoring 23 points. But his performance was overshadowed by an ugly incident involving a courtside fan. Mr. Lowry attempted to keep a ball in play and accidentally fell into some sideline spectators -- one of them then reached over and shoved Mr. Lowry's shoulder. That spectator has been identified as Mark Stevens, a billionaire venture capitalist who's also a minority owner of the Golden State Warriors. Mr. Stevens has now been banned from attending NBA games and Warrior team activities for one year. And he's been fined 500-thousand dollars. At a news conference today, Kyle Lowry was asked how he kept his cool during the incident.

SOUNDCLIP

KYLE LOWRY: I understand at the moment my team needed me. I understand that there are plenty of fans and kids in the world watching this game. I have two young children and you know to be able to hold myself to a certain standard which I do. And that's a big thing for me is being a guy that you know upholds himself to a high standard, and never letting guys like him get under your skin. And it sucks that this has to take the front page of you know the kind of finals was you know. It's been a fun finals. It's been a competitive finals. It sucks because you know at the end day we just want to play basketball. We're playing basketball and we're trying to win a championship. The game takes a little bit of a backseat because of this.

REPORTER: What was your reaction when you found out that Mark Stevens -- the guy who pushed you -- was an owner, a part-owner, of the team?

KYLE LOWRY: Unbelievable. Even worse. Even worse. I mean he should understand like you know this is what happens -- you know it is basketball. It just sucks man. It just sucks that you've got people like that. A guy like that shouldn't be a part of our league.

DF: That was Kyle Lowry answering questions about the courtside spectator who shoved him during last night's Game 3 of the NBA Finals. And earlier today the Golden State Warriors' star player, Steph Curry, gave his thoughts on Mark Stevens and whether he supports the action of team management and the NBA.

SOUNDCLIP

STEPH CURRY: Obviously an unfortunate situation all the way around. Credit Kyle the way he handled it. You know a lot of different reactions you could have had, but he handled it correctly. I know our team and organization is addressing you know the situation and will act accordingly. You don't want to see that in our game and hopefully doesn't happen. I don't necessarily think it was a reflection of how we handle business here as Warriors organization and franchise -- we have a high standard and do things with class and professionalism. And I know Mark is apologetic. And just want respect for the game all the way around -- fans, owners, team, players, coaches, everybody because there's so much good happening on the court that we want to keep the spotlight on that.

DF: That was Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors commenting on the fan who pushed Kyle Lowry.

[Music]

Part 3: Why a Louisiana councillor is trying to repeal her city's 'saggy pants' law

Succulent Plant Thefts

Guest: Kelly Griffin

DF: They arrived incognito in state parks across California -- intent on pulling off a heist that could net them hundreds of thousands of dollars. Their bounty: the thick, fleshy-leafed plants known as succulents. Last Friday, three South Korean nationals were charged with poaching succulents worth some 800-thousand dollars. It's a growing problem in California, and authorities are often at a loss to prevent it. Kelly Griffin is a succulent specialist who's trying to kill the black market by breeding and selling legal plants. We reached him in San Diego.

CO: Kelly are these latest charges against these succulent poachers -- are they a sign that the authorities take this as a serious crime?

KELLY GRIFFIN: Oh yeah. I mean even the evaluation of what the seized plants were is very high but it's not seeming to go away.

CO: Can you tell us how these men were going about their succulent poaching?

KG: Well from what I understand it's pretty clear that they knew what they were doing was not right because they were using you know radios and you know putting them in backpacks as opposed to just bagging them up as if that was okay. And certainly the numbers of plants when you start collecting thousands of plants off of public lands you must know that you should have at least some permission -- you know this is not private land, and even if it were a private land it would still be bad.

CO: But just from what you know -- this was along the coast? Along the side of the road? Just maybe describe what you're understanding is to where they got these plants.

KG: The plants inhabit the kind of cliffside habitats because that's where they prefer to grow -- where they can grow best without competition. And they actually do form a kind of stabilization of the cliffs so that's one of the concerns that you're wholesale removing large quantities of plants from the cliffs that hold the cliffs together. That is the concern.

CO: How did they get caught?

KG: There's been several different arrests. The first one that we became aware of there was a gentleman that was mailing a lot of packages and was holding up the line at a postal office in California I guess and one of the customers behind him got a little upset at the fact and I guess asked them what they were. And the gentleman said that you know it's something that's kind of secret and he can't talk about it.

CO: He kind of whispered that 'no I can't tell you.'

KG: Of course that person went right to the postal authorities and they checked the boxes and they said hey wait a second -- these don't look like nursery grown plants and there's certainly no notification that you're sending plants and that there's no billing ticket and there's no receipts and there's no paperwork accompanying these. Second one I think was an alert -- a ranger saw a truck by the side -- a van -- by the side of the road and just kept an eye on it. And when the people returned, came up and asked them and he could clearly see that there were thousands of plants that they had cut off from the hillside.

CO: But why go to all this trouble. I mean they're growing wild in California. They're plants that you can probably get -- well they're everywhere in our stores. So why did they go to such lengths to get these plants from the wild?

KG: I can't tell you how many times I've seen the markets change and they change in ways that just don't seem to make sense. But these are for foreign markets and they've gotten the idea that these are somehow special and or unique. And the plants -- are very slow growing. But in commercial purposes you can get a nice looking clump of dudleyi in a growing from seed in a nursery artificially propagated a pretty decent plant in three to five years. So it's not like something you can't do but there is some allure to having these old [inaudible] looking dudleyis with pretty little white rosettes and the red tips on the leaves. And somehow the people that are selling them have convinced the people that are buying them that there's no substitute for these beautiful wildflowers with some kind of pedigree. If the plant is worth something -- and our nursery plants sell from you know three to five dollars and here is something that is a little better that's perceived as being super rare and hard to come by and it's selling for 200 bucks. Sometimes the very fact that the perceived value is so high is what drives the market.

CO: 800-thousand dollars worth.

KG: If you look right now dudleyi -- even the ones that were purchased at a nursery sometimes sell for hundreds of dollars because people don't know the difference and they don't know the value so the perceived value is what's being sold. And you can find dudleyi on the marketplace for 150 dollars. And the number of plants they stole -- they took from the cliffs times 142-dollars comes up to 600-thousand which is what the report says.

CO: I understand you actually grow these plants, you grow succulents. And how much do you sell your plants for?

KG: We sell plants all over the country and all over the world. So our plants are grown healthy with bug-free and they're designed to be a way for conserving it. But one of the things I have noticed is that -- you asked me a question -- anywhere from three bucks to maybe 15, 20, 30 bucks.

CO: Not exactly a Gucci bag.

KG: No. No. But they're as nice and sometimes much nicer. And that was one of the things I was going to say is that a lot of times the people that are buying these plants have no concept of where they grow naturally in the world and they don't understand the concept of plants needing certain circumstances in order to survive and last in the wild. In California we get winter rainfall which means it's cold and wet. And a lot of times these are being sold to tropical, equatorial, places where it's humid and hot. And that's death for those plants. So not only are they buying a plant that's been ripped off the hill but the people can't even grow it because the conditions that it needs aren't going to be able to be supplied in the places where they're trying to grow them.

CO: Okay Kelly we'll leave it there. Thanks for speaking with us.

KG: Okay -- hope it was some help.

CO: It was very helpful yes. Thank you.

KG: All right.

DF: We reached Kelly Griffin in San Diego, California.

[Music]

Adrian Johnson

DF: Rescue officials are still searching for bodies in the Danube River, more than a week after boat crash in Budapest. It happened on May 29th when a large Viking cruise ship crashed into a small tourist boat. 17 people are dead, and 11 more are still missing and presumed dead. Now authorities say the captain of the Viking cruise ship was involved in a similar boat collision earlier this spring. One of the passengers on board that ship was a Saskatoon man. Adrian Johnson spoke to CBC News from Prague today. Here's how he described the crash.

SOUNDCLIP

ADRIAN JOHNSON: Initially we felt it and we kind of heard it. It felt like a grinding. But we don't go on terribly many boat rides so we don't know what is a normal sound and what isn't. But there were people right at the front of the boat and there were people on top of the boat -- and there was quite a commotion. Lots of people making lots of noise at the front. Some of them came back and said we just hit a boat and there's people in the water and that's when I got up and I stood and looked down and I could see two people in the water. And I saw three life preservers in the water. At the time I thought what had happened was we had hit a canoe and that you know some teenagers were out in a canoe you know thought they could dodge the big boat and we hit them. Had no idea the number of people who were involved or the size of the boat that was involved. One of the things that affected me the most is that it happened so quickly and so seamlessly and it was such an awful event for that other boat and in the end not much of a big deal for our boat like we never had to evacuate, we never had to put on our life vests -- nothing at all. And also to know that very likely -- because that other boat flipped and sank really quickly -- and to know that probably at that time that I saw those two people in the water that other boat was underneath us filling up with water...that's an image that's not particularly good.

DF: Adrian Johnson is a Saskatoon man who was onboard a Viking cruise ship that crashed into a smaller tourist boat in Budapest last week, killing 28 people.

[Music]

Mike Landry

DF: Driving through the streets of Brampton one bus driver hasn't just been picking up passengers, he's also picked up a new language. With the help of his customers, Mike Landry has been learning Punjabi -- one of the most widely spoken languages in the Toronto area city. CBC Toronto's Ali Chiasson joined him on a ride-along to find out more, and to pick up a few new words.

SOUNDCLIP

[Man speaking in Punjabi]

MIKE LANDRY: It was all by accident. There were three or four guys on the bus that were interacting with me for about four months. I was on the same route for four months. And it started with little words and you know I would practice those words with other passengers. They just kept adding words and more vocabulary and stuff like that. And I was having a ball with it. So you know a small word like "Sat Sri Akaal" for example is a Sikh greeting. It's not something they're going to expect, right? So there's always quite a bit of surprise. So you know that shock once they get over it then it's all laughter after that. At first they can't believe their ears. Sometimes they think I'm speaking English to them. And yeah as I'm speaking you know they're not sure they're hearing English or Punjabi but once I say a few things they really understand and you know then they help me out quite a bit. Then the engagement is there. You're turning in the same circle 10 times in a day and you know I've always engaged. And you know they'll stand you know where it's safe over there and we'll chat you know. And so I've been chatting fom the get go -- soon as I started this job because I've been trying to enjoy it as much as I can. Punjabi was just another extra boost in a sense. You know you look forward to coming into work. Sat Sri Akaal. [Man talking in Punjabi]

DF: That's Mike Landry, a bus driver in Brampton, Ontario, speaking with CBC reporter Ali Chiasson. Mr. Landry has been learning Punjabi -- one of the most widely spoken languages in Brampton -- from his customers.

[Music]

Saggy Pants Law

Guest: LeVette Fuller

DF: In several communities in Louisiana, you can be punished with a 100-dollar fine and up to eight hours community service for wearing pants below your waist in public. The so-called "saggy pants ordinance" was passed in 2007. And it may seem like one of those wacky laws that shows up in a trivia quiz, but some residents of the city of Shreveport want it repealed. They say the law contributed to the death of a local man in an incident that started when police spotted him wearing baggy shorts. LeVette Fuller is a Shreveport City Councillor who moved to repeal the ordinance. We reached her in Shreveport.

CO: Councillor Fuller why do you want to repeal this saggy pants law?

LEVETTE FULLER: Well I'd completely forgotten that it was on the books until a group of people who were challenging findings of a police involved shooting that ended in the death of a civilian. They came to the city council meeting and said that this gentleman was originally detained by the police because he was in violation of the sagging pants ordinance.

CO: You're talking about Anthony Childs, right?

LF: That's correct.

CO: What happened to Anthony Childs?

LF: Anthony was in his neighbourhood on one of the main streets and he was -- I believe he noticed that the police officer saw him and he took off running. It seems that he maneuvered toward a gun that he had on him, took the gun out. The police officer is said to have told him to put the gun down. And they ended up engaging in gunfire. According to the reports Anthony Childs fatal wound was self-inflicted. But the police officer shot his gun about eight or nine times.

CO: And the only shot that Anthony Childs fired was into his own chest.

LF: Yes according to the reports.

CO: But he was being pursued by the police officer because he had been stopped for having saggy pants. Is that right?

LF: That is the report that was given to the citizens group that wants to have a citizens review board in our city for police activity. They had some meetings with the local NAACP chapter and from there they came to us and reported that this was the reason for the stop. In February after Mr. Childs was found dead, the reason for the stop wasn't told. They kept it under lock, so it's only been after a couple of months that they've come out and said that the reason for the stop was that he was in violation of the sagging pants ordinance.

CO: And what is that? I mean we've covered it, we've done interviews about it, the number of jurisdictions have passed this sagging pants law -- what is it actually for?

LF: Well a lot of people point to the culture of incarcerated people where they're not allowed to have belts and so their pants start to sag. And I think some of that is urban myth. But in hip-hop culture it became stylish to wear your pants low sometimes with a baggy t-shirt sometimes where you can see a youngsters -- usually a males undergarments. It's distasteful mostly to older generations. I don't particularly care for it but people found it so distasteful they felt that the only way they control it is through the legal system.

CO: When you did your research where you started to find out how this law is being used what did you discover about who has been stopped for saggy pants ordinance?

LF: Well I discovered that 96 percent of the stops that ended with a citation were African-American and the majority of those were men. There might have been a couple of women. And then the rest of that percentage would be Hispanic or white. And then with juvenile cases -- 100 percent were African-American.

CO: Was Anthony Childs African-American?

LF: Yes.

CO: Maybe you don't have the statistics for this but how often was this ordinance used as the pretext for stopping somebody in order to racially profile them?

LF: That's an excellent question, but I don't have the stats. But based on the narrative I've received from our police chief, I'm being led to believe that quite a few more where there was no citation for saggy pants but then there was some other charge after that. What's interesting is that there is an amendment on the original law in 2007 -- on the original ordinance -- that this law should not be used as a pretext. So I don't know when this started. But the original stop would happened and then they would find usually guns -- like a stop and frisk that would occur and that would be what the final warrant might be for.

CO: What is now going to happen with this law in Shreveport?

LF: We have had our initial reading to put it on the agenda. We will vote either in favor of the repeal or against the repeal. I believe that I have the votes to repeal it. And our mayor supports the repeal as well.

CO: What does the mayor say about this?

LF: He thinks that he understands the original intent of the law -- respectability politics, trying to set role models, are just setting a standard for young people but that the unintended consequences are so great that we need to repeal it. What's unfortunate is now it has become its own big issue not just because there's been the loss of life here but also that when you cite someone with a ticket for a dress code violation basically that carries a one hundred dollar fine and they don't pay that ticket -- a warrant is issued. So now this person is being introduced into the legal system that we were trying to stop them from by leading them on a straight and narrow path.

CO: But this dress code violation led to the death of a man.

LF: Yes.

CO: And now you are moving to repeal this law.

LF: That's it.

CO: What kind of response are you getting?

LF: I'm getting mostly a positive response but of course the things that stand out are the negative comments that you get. I've received voice mail messages from as far away as New York City -- people asking how I would like it if they ran down my street or my mother's street in their underwear. Or people saying that they just find it to be in poor taste and they are fine with legislating poor taste. But for the most part I'm hearing a lot of positive feedback. People that don't like it but they feel that this is potentially a violation of people's constitutional rights. People should be able to express themselves through their clothing and if someone is indecent -- if they're exposing themselves -- we already have laws for that. So I think the most pragmatic people are looking at this as something that may be a constitutional issue -- a civil liberties issue.

CO: We will leave it there. Councillor Fuller it's good to talk to you. Thank you.

LF: Thank you so much.

DF: That was Councilwoman LeVette Fuller. We reached her in Shreveport, Louisiana.

[Music]

Ontario Today listeners

DF: As you know today is the 75th anniversary of D-Day. It's a day to remember those who served including the 14,000 Canadians who stormed Juno Beach that day and helped bring about the end of the Second World War. In the years since many have stood on that beach, honoring those who died there and those who lived to fight. Today CBC Radio's "Ontario Today" asked listeners to call in and share their own stories of being on that beach and remembering the battlefield.

SOUNDCLIP

VOICE 1: When I went to Juno Beach in 1999 we didn't get out at the right village so we were walking and walking and trying to hitchhike. We get picked up by an old couple and we say yeah we're going to go visit Juno Beach and we are Canadian. And they say yes yes we remember. We remember the landing. What? They were a couple that were kids that were there that hid in a basement that heard the bombing and heard everything going on -- telling us how it went down that day. They told us how the Canadians were giving candies out to the kids because that was their memory right. They were 10 years old back then. It was quite emotional. You realize the immense sacrifice that we today can enjoy because of that.

VOICE 2: 25 years ago today my mother and I were aboard the QE2. We had sailed over from New York to England on the 50th anniversary commemorative cruise. And what really really struck me was when I woke up one morning -- right outside our porthole there was the USS Washington aircraft carrier and submarines and destroyers and all kinds of different warships that were there. I ran up on deck and there was a veteran beside me and I was just awestruck at what I was seeing and I just sort of muttered out loud, "I never thought I would experience anything like this in my life." And this crackled voice came from beside me saying, "I never thought I would see something like this again." And I looked at him and he had tears rolling down his eyes.

VOICE 3: You know I went to Juno Beach and I thought yeah there's the beach. And a couple of hours later I went to Beny-sur-Mer cemetery, and I was dumbstruck. It was the most profound thing [chokes up] we're all going to get weepy again here -- it was one of the most profound things that I think I have ever done. But for me the most remarkable is not the Juno Beach cemeteries and the battlefields but the Falaise gap and the battle that happened a couple of days later. There's a cemetery called [inaudible]. And there are more Canadians buried there from a day and a half of fighting than of all the people killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11. And when you look at it in that perspective you begin to understand the level of sacrifice that came from Canadians.

DF: "Ontario Today" listeners sharing their stories of what it was like to see Juno Beach and other sites marking the immense sacrifice of Canadians during the Second World War.

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June 6, 2019 Episode Transcript

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