Uniform makes final journey to Juno Beach

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This article was published 31/05/2019 (2517 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On June 5, Francis Godon’s uniform will make its final trip back to Juno Beach.

His son, Frank Godon, will make the journey with his father’s uniform in tow to donate it to the Juno Beach Centre, a museum at the site Canadian soldiers landed on D-Day.

“We figured this is the best, when I was talking with my father after he had promised it, we figured this would be the best thing to do because it’s in an atmosphere where people that go there will understand and will appreciate it more than if it’s just hidden in a family closet.”

Francis, a prominent Métis Second World War veteran, made several trips over the years to commemorate the Canadians killed during the beginning stages of the liberation of France from Nazi occupation.

Frank said his father first entered the military in January 1943. After training at Canadian Forces Base Shilo and in Ontario, he joined the Royal Winnipeg Rifles and left to fight in Europe in January 1944. He made it to England in time to fight in the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944.

Seawater got into his rifle, making it malfunction, so he had to fight his way up the beach using only grenades, Frank said. He was eventually captured by the German army and taken as a prisoner of war.

He was brought to a location where prisoners were being executed, but was spared.

“Fortunately for him, the British attacked at that time, so they stopped the executions. They force-marched them for about 20 days in June. They loaded them on boxcars and for the whole month of July he was taken by box car into Germany, and then he was forced to work in labour camps.”

Francis was eventually liberated in 1945 by combined American and Russian forces.

His father didn’t speak very much about his experience until 2003 when he was invited by Veterans Affairs Canada to visit the Juno Beach Centre, Frank said.

“It was kind of a healing process for him.”

During that first visit the family noticed there was an exhibit for Inuit and First Nations soldiers, but nothing for Métis soldiers. A Métis exhibit opened in 2009, which the uniform and boots will be added to.

Donating the uniform ensures it is preserved for the future. Family heirlooms often get lost after a few generations, he said, but the Juno Beach Centre will ensure it remains safe.

“It’s an honour to showcase what my father helped do during the war — the liberation of France, putting a stop to fascism. Personally, I don’t think here in Canada we appreciate it as much.”

Frank Godon, who is also a candidate for the People’s Party of Canada in Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa, is working on a book about his father’s experiences in the war and his decades-long struggle with PTSD following it.

“He was constantly fighting, constantly trying to prove himself or thinking he had to prove himself and running into all sorts of problems. In 1967, he quit drinking. He joined Alcoholics Anonymous and he was able to turn his life around.”

The book will focus on Francis’ life after the war and the majority of proceeds will be donated to the Juno Beach Centre. Frank has tapes of his father from before he died on Jan 19 of this year, which he is using to help write the book.

The book and uniform donation are aimed at helping people understand what soldiers go through both during war and once it is finished.

“It’s a very emotional thing to do now because all the years I accompanied my father to various ceremonies, Remembrance Day ceremonies and different ceremonies in Winnipeg. To see this uniform with him in it was … I was very proud of it, and now this is the last journey for it.”

» dmay@brandonsun.com

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