John Kuharski (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

D-DAY ANNIVERSARY

‘It’s amazing what power can do’; 104-year-old WWII veteran recounts landing on Juno Beach 81 years ago

Jun 6, 2025 | 4:32 PM

KAMLOOPS — Eighty-one years ago today, Allied Forces conducted the largest amphibious attack in military history, simultaneously storming five beaches in Normandy, France. Canada was tasked with taking Juno Beach, widely thought of as the second hardest objective to take from German forces behind the United States on Omaha. By the time the sun set on June 6, the Canadians had advanced further inland than any other attacking force, but at the cost more than 300 lives. John Kuharski landed on Juno Beach that day. At 104 years old, he is one of the oldest living veterans in Canada and calls Kamloops home.

The defining moment of the Second World War saw Allied forced storm the beaches of Normandy, securing a foothold in Europe on their way to toppling the Third Reich less than a year later. Lance Corporal Kuharski was there that day and still remembers the moment he reached the shores of Juno.

“We had no idea. We knew what we were doing, we knew where we were going, but we had no idea,” recounted Kuharski. “The amount of ships that were out there, it was amazing. It was amazing. You wonder where they came from. The aircrafts flying above them and bombers and everything else. It’s amazing what power can do.”

While many consider WWI Canada’s trial by fire, D-day was undoubtedly Kuharski’s, as it served as his first combat action of the war.

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“You don’t know what to think. You were briefed on everything but it’s a whole different thing altogether when there are planes flying, bombs flying, there were ships firing off the ocean onto the shore. There was noise, all just racket all the time — just unbelievable. But everything had to move according to plan, everything had to move,” said Kuharski.

Kuharski was tasked with driving a fuel truck, refilling tanks under the dark of night.

“Out in the fields, the Germans were coming at that time. They were bombing us already because we were newer landings. Some of us hid under the tanks to sleep — lucky the fuel truck never got hit. Some of the tanks got hit by bombs from the air,” recalled Kuharksi.

Kuharski served with the Fort Garry Horse out of Winnipeg, renamed as the 10th Armoured Regiment during the war. The regiment landed 69 tanks and 418 troops on Juno that day, with 14 of his brothers in arms never seeing June 7.

“I got up in the morning and there was this anti-personnel bomb there, about six or seven inches long, (that) landed on top of the netting. Oh boy, my hair stood on end. But you take the good with the bad, and you always seem to look forward to the next day,” Kuharski told CFJC News.

For his efforts from the Normandy invasion through the liberation of Europe and to the fall of Germany, Kuharski was awarded a number of commendations, including Knight of the French National Order, and is one of Canada’s oldest living veterans.

“The Canadian Army went all the way up there. Right through Belgium and Holland and all that. I still remember the rows of sunflowers in Holland, yellow, green — oh boy, I’m telling you they’re beautiful,” said Kuharski.