PORT CHARLOTTE, FLA. - Knowing the importance of never forgetting, Peter Brodie is making the long trek from Port Charlotte, Fla., to his hometown of Amherst in time for the D-Day ceremony this weekend.
In a phone interview from Florida a week before the ceremony where he'll be laying a wreath, Brodie says those that fought 65 years ago should never be forgotten, that they should be honoured.
"We lost 460-some-odd people and they were our buddies," said Brodie, one of only a few men left to have fought with the North Nova Scotia Highlanders overseas for 11 months.
Brodie said there were about 700 North Novies on the frontlines.
"We went through an awful lot of really bad battles."
Beginning at 6:30 p.m., on June 6, the North Nova Scotia Highlanders' Memory Club will be hosting a D-Day service at the cenotaph in downtown Amherst.
Rev. Edgar Patriquin will say prayers and messages, and Roy Tower will sing the national anthem and God Save the Queen. The Last Post and Reveille will be played on the bagpipes.
"I feel very honoured to be asked to lay the wreath because it's in remembrance of all the boys," Brodie said. "I think it's wonderful."
Riding a motorbike for the platoon, Brodie says it's hard to imagine it or explain to anyone what it was like.
"There were dead bodies at the beach that came in with the tide," he said, recounting his arrival at Juno Beach.
"The troops went in to take the beaches and another group went in to clear a way for our bridge head. We came in around 10 in the morning. We had hoped to get through by noon hour, but it was about four in the afternoon when we got lined up.
"I can always remember from our training not to jam up the vehicles because of aircrafts and there we were, two abreast, bumper-to-bumper as far as you could see."
Brodie says the second day was a bad one for his company, with a lot of men lost and prisoners taken.
"We had to dig in and hold the line until the rest of the reinforcements caught up to us."
Two days later, Brodie was wounded and sent to England for a couple of months to recovery before rejoining his platoon.
"From then on, it was just go, go, go."
Following the service at the cenotaph, the group will head to West Winds Restaurant in West Amherst for an evening meal. All visitors and friends are invited to attend.
rtetanish@amherstdaily.com
