A sculpture by two renowned Calgary-area artists will be unveiled in Normandy to mark 80 years since D-Day, the crucial Second World War battle that helped shape the world we know today. The nearly three-metre-tall bronze Regina Rifleman — by from Cochrane — is meant to commemorate the role the Regina Rifle Regiment (now known as the Royal Regina Rifles) played in the battle for Juno Beach on June 6, 1944. Part of the , the Regina Rifles were one of the lead elements that stormed Juno Beach that day, said retired Royal Regina Rifles company commander Robert Knibbs, who joined in the early 1990’s.
The Regina Rifles were tasked with pressing inland on the following “pivotal” days, he said. “Everyone remembers June 6 as the first incredible day of battle to get that foothold – but that’s just where the war started for these guys,” said Knibbs. The regiment was tasked with setting up a defensive position in Bretteville — within the Normandy region of France — near where the Regina Rifleman statue will stand.
By the night of June 8 and morning of June 9, preparations began for being counter attacked. “In four days, they hadn’t slept a wink,” said Knibbs. “Wounded and everything else that went with it – being well under (full) strength.
” The Regina Rifles were regarded as a kind of “ragtag” group, said Anthony Wilson-Smith, president of Historica Canada. “Their nickname, ‘The Farmer Johns’, came from the fact that everybody kind of laughe.
