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"News From home Appreciated Most By Boys
May 25, 1944
Dear Mr. McKenzie:
My first copies of The Bradford Witness arrived a few days ago and I can assure you it was indeed a pleasure to read news of the old town. My mail has been coming through exceptionally well, but even so I found a number of items of news in your paper that my wife and mother apparently had overlooked.
Spring has at last arrived in England and is most welcome after a winter of fog and rain. I am at present on a drome in the centre of the fruit-growing district and the trees are a mass of bloom. Whoever wrote about the beauties of "An English Apple Orchard in the Spring" didn't half do it justice.
Like everyone else these days, we are kept very busy, but last week I managed to get sufficient time off to visit Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-on-Avon. It is a beautiful little town and the Memorial Theatre is very interesting.
I hear from Ron. Sutherland and Lorne West quite regularly by letter, but it is difficult to arrange one's leave in order to get together.
My sincere thanks to you and Mr. Earl Rowe for making it possible to receive your paper. Without a doubt, news from home is cherished most by all the boys overseas.
My kind regards to all the good people of Bradford and district.
Sincerely, Laurie Melbourne."

"Native of Gilford District Believed First Invasion Casualty To Be Reported Here
Believed ti be an Invasion casualty, the sad news came to Bradford last Wednesday afternoon that Arthur George McDonnell, eldest son of Mr. George McDonnell, formerly of Gilford, has died of wounds on June 12. As the family had no word of his being in action previous to this message, it is believed that he received fatal wounds during the early days of the invasion of Normandy." ...

"Word was received last week by Mr. arnold Walker, of Blubber Bay, B.C., formerly of Bradford, that his only son, William, has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for dropping blood plasma to the Partisan troops of General Tito's Yugoslavian Army, thereby saving the lives of several of his soldiers." ...

Article features news on construction for the new post office over the land of the old gaol, the history of the old fire hall and the opening of the Holland Theatre.

Article on the service of World War I veteran, William J. Weyman, from his perspective in the 9th Scottish Highland Artillery Division, 50th Brigade. This edition of Bradford Today featured many aspects of the Bradford Remembrance Day Ceremony in 1991.

"It has been described as the largest invasionary force ever amassed.
On June 6th, 1944, ships "covered the sea" in the staging area between the Isle of Wight and Normandy, preparing to carry 150,000 American, Canadian and British troops to five key beachheads in France.
As the troops prepared for invasion, 11,000 planes began their bombing runs shortly after midnight, dropping nearly 1,800 tons of bombs on German positions. Paratroops, including the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, were dropped behind enemy lines, and 500 battleships moved into position to shell the Normandy coastline.
The Allied invasion of Europe, dubbed Operation Overlord, was originally scheduled for June 5th, but delayed by stormy weather. When meteorological reports suggested a break in the weather on the 6th, the invasion was ordered to go ahead - through seas so rough that most soldiers were seasick on the passage across the Channel.
The assault began at 6:30 a.a., on the beaches code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. The 15,000 to 20,000 troops of the 3rd Canadian Division concentrated on Juno, and the villages of Vaux, Graye-sur-Mer, Courseulles-sur-Mer, Beiniere-sur-Mer, and St. Aubin-sur-Mer,
Shortly after 8 a.m., the Canadian forces hit the beaches. Some battalions met little resistance, finding that the way had been cleared by the earlier bombardment; others discovered that the enemy positions were still intact, and faced heavy fire.
Among the first to land were the Royal Canadian Engineers, called on to blast through the concrete seawalls and barbed wire that blocked the coast, clear minefields, and prepare roads for advancing forces; and the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. Many of the Medics were killed while trying to assist wounded soldiers in that first assault.
By the end of the first day of fighting, 4,000 allied troops had been killed, 342 of them Canadians. But the beacheheads had been established, and the Canadians had penetrated as far as 11 km inland.
It was the beginning of the end for the Nazi war machine. Eleven months later, on May 7th, 1945, Germany surrendered.
"War is nothing but death, disease, destruction, disablement...and a terrible waste." - D-Day veteran."

Memoriam in the Bradford Witness for those who lose their lives in WWII.