A Winnipeg war veteran is returning to Normandy this week to commemorate the battle he helped win for the Allies 65 years ago.
And though the memories of the D-Day invasion are painful, he refuses to let them fade.
"Going back now, it just brings back sometimes memories that you'd sooner forget," Robert Bruce told CTV News.
But to forget the pain would also mean forgetting the ultimate sacrifice paid by his brother-in-law and many friends.
Total casualties of the D-Day invasion have been estimated at 10,000 dead or wounded.
It was the greatest combined military force ever assembled, Allied troops invaded the beaches of Normandy, France, during the Second World War.
Thousands of soldiers scrambled ashore as planes attacked German positions, and paratroopers secured a hold further inland.
"Like I said, I'm not a hero. The people that are heroes are the ones left over there," Bruce said.
On Sunday Bruce, joined by a few dozen of Winnipeg's remaining veterans and their families, attended a ceremony at Brookside Cemetery in honour of their fallen comrades.
A full D-Day memorial service will be held June 6th at Vimy Ridge Memorial Park. It is set to start at 10:45 a.m.
