8. Juno Beach Center
In the 1990s, a group of Canadian veterans who had participated in the D-Day landings and the subsequent battles in Normandy and Western Europe constructed the Juno Beach Centre (one of the five beaches of the Operation Overload, codenamed Juno, and was the responsibility of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and commandos of the Royal Marines, all under the command of Lieutenant-General John T. Crocker). The center was conceived to commemorate the contribution and sacrifices of 14,000 Canadian troops during the liberation of Europe.
Located in Courseulles-sur-Mer in the Calvados region of Normandy, France, Juno Beach Center was inaugurated on 6 June 2003 attracting thousands of Canadian veterans who visited the beach during that time as well as the 2004 ceremony for the 60th anniversary of D-Day. The building was designed by Canadian architect Brian K. Chamberlain, and has detailed and exhibition rooms which not only provide complete reviews of people and events that make up Canada’s contribution to the D-Day, but also narrates the story of life in Canada before the outbreak of the war, Canada’s civilian and military contribution to the war effort, and contemporary Canadian society in the decades since World War II.