20 Canadian Solders Executed

On the night of June 7th, outside a small abbey in Caen, France, twenty Canadian soliders were executed.  

The Allied forces had begun invading Normandy on the 6th, and the German had been holding the Candians prisoner in the make shift garrison at the abbey.  That night, just days before the German's would have retreated or surrendered, the soliders were lined up outside the old abbey, and shot.

It was a quiet garden the morning that I visited.  The sun was glittering through the trees, and the leafs gently falling  amidst the wreaths that even today are being layed at the small monument.   Its an inconspicuous place, removed from the city, but the story must be well known, because my host who was born in Caen as the war ended, made it the first place we visited.

I've visited numerous memorials and monuments on my journey through Normandy now.  This one however, more than even the grand museums for the invasion, hit my heart.  On the wall of the abbey, were the photos of the soliders.  All were in there 20's and early 30's.  They were so close to having made it to the end of the war.  

So close.