150 high school students preparing to take part in D-Day anniversary trip

Students from eight high schools in northeastern New Brunswick will be taking part in a special trip to commemorate the North Shore Regiment and the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

The group of 150, along with officials and members of the current North Shore Regiment, will spend 10 days in May and June 2019 retracing the footsteps of the North Shore Regiment.

It will wind through villages where the regiment fought, said Brandon Savage, a history teacher at Miramichi Valley High School in Miramichi and the leader of the project.

The idea for the district-wide project began with a request from Mark Donovan, Anglophone North School District superintendent, for ideas to unite the large district with a common theme. 

"One of the things he thought of was the North Shore Regiment and that common line of heritage that we all share in this region of New Brunswick."

The school district's boundaries extend from Rexton to Campbellton to Blackville, similar borders for those who served in the regiment.

The regiment was formed in 1870 and was called for active service in both the First and Second World Wars. The district's trip will focus on what the regiment did in the Second World War.

"We saw the trip as having some very great possibilities for our students and for our community as a whole," Savage said.

Some preparation already done

The group will visit and participate in ceremonies in Tailleville, Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Bé​ny-sur-Mer and Carpiquet, all locations the regiment was connected to before and after D-Day.

Savage, along with two other teachers, Chris Matheson and Brent Cameron, used some recent vacation to travel to Europe in July. They began to lay the groundwork for the trip. 

"We wanted to see what types of resources existed and connections and people that were interested in collaborating with us, and what kind of learning possibilities existed in those areas."

Savage said the trip was successful, especially when they visited Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, the village where the regiment landed on June 6, 1944.

The regiment also fought a major battle in Carpiquet on July 4 and suffered more casualties​ than in any other battle during the war. 

"We met with the townspeople and the mayor of those communities just to let them know we were going to make this trip and to see what kind of collaborations could happen during our visit next June." 

Honour the fallen

Savage said the climax of the trip will be attending the 75th anniversary of D-Day. 

"Right on D-Day itself, the plan is our students will be there on the beach at Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer standing in the exact spot the North Shore Regiment landed." 

The plan is to lay a plaque at Juno Beach to commemorate the event and then visit Carpiquet for other commemoration services. 

The trip has a personal connection for Savage. His grandfather, Bill Savage, landed on Juno Beach on D-Day and was wounded. 

"That's always been sort of my drive as to the career path that I've chosen and why I enjoy teaching students history," he said.

"It was a very happy moment when I was told this trip was happening and I was to play a key role in it." 

Remembrance projects

Savage and his fellow teachers have been using their school's Remembrance Day service to make a bigger impact on students by having them research names that were listed on a plaque that hung in the former Harkins High School. 

This year, three men who served in the regiment were remembered in a short play written and performed by the students. 

"We realized as you move another generation away from those conflicts, we need to make it very real students," Savage said. "You have to peel back those numbers because those numbers become trivial after awhile and put a face to that number to show a human side to the loss of war."

The three men honoured were Aloysius​ Daley, Donald Houlston and Fay Kitchen. Savage said two families connected to the men attended the service.

He said this has an impact on those involved.

"The students realize what they're doing isn't just a project for credit but more on the side of the importance of remembering."