Hon. Marty Klyne: Honourable senators, each year on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, Canadians from coast to coast to coast pause in silence. We gather in cities, small towns, schools and legions. We lay wreaths, bow our heads and remember the men and women who served and sacrificed for freedom, peace and democracy.
Remembrance Day is not only a time to honour the fallen, but also to reflect on the generations who answered the call to serve, often leaving behind families, farms and futures to defend ideals greater than themselves. Their courage and sacrifice are woven into the fabric of our national identity.
Among those we remember with particular pride are the soldiers of Saskatchewan’s own Royal Regina Rifles, the men affectionately known as the “Farmer Johns.”
They came from all walks of life: farmers, students, northern trappers, ordinary young men turned extraordinary warriors. Some were barely out of high school. Others dismissed them as “just a bunch of Farmer Johns,” but the men of the Regina Rifles wore that nickname as a badge of honour.
On June 6, 1944, they proved their courage beyond doubt. Landing on the Nan Green sector of Juno Beach, one of the most heavily fortified stretches of the Normandy coast, they faced relentless fire. Yet, side by side with the tanks of the 1st Hussars, they fought their way off the beach, through minefields and machine-gun nests, clearing the town of Courseulles-sur-Mer block by block.
By nightfall, the Royal Regina Rifles had achieved their D-Day objective, capturing Courseulles-sur-Mer and pushing inland to secure the bridges at Reviers on a day of bitter, costly fighting and extraordinary bravery.
Lieutenant Bill Grayson became one of the regiment’s legends. Under fire, he caught a grenade, hurled it back and captured 35 enemy soldiers. His courage earned him the Military Cross, but countless others showed the same spirit.
Of the 4,000 men who served in the Regina Rifles, only a few remain with us. Yet their legacy endures in the regiment that still bears their name, in the communities that honour them and in Canada, which remains free because of their sacrifice.
This Remembrance Day, as we stand in silence across the nation, let us remember the Farmer Johns of the Royal Regina Rifles, those ordinary Prairie men who did extraordinary things in the service of peace and humanity.
Lest we forget. Up the Johns!
Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.