Sarah Mills: Teachers deserve gratitude as school year wraps up
There's a collective sigh coming from Saskatchewan's teachers as the school year ends. Sarah Mills says teachers are ask...
When a postcard landed in the mailbox of Saskatoon resident Denis Bonthoux last month, he wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“I first thought it was junk mail,” Bonthoux said. A second glance revealed the postcard was not just another flyer. “I noticed it was a picture of a military thing, so I read it and saw that it was D-Day.”
The project was spearheaded by the Juno Beach Centre Association for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. The postcards are meant to help connect Canadians to the hundreds of soldiers who died on the Nazi-occupied beaches of France from June 6, 1944 to June 10, 1944.
Bonthoux’s home at 738 University Dr., is one of 15 Saskatchewan addresses that got a postcard informing recipients they’re living at the last-known address of a soldier before he volunteered to serve.
Private Dean McCallum Malloy listed this address when he volunteered to serve. (Brent Bosker/650 CKOM
“To be honest, I was quite, not moved, but I thought it was a really good idea to remind ourselves that our liberty, our freedom, our peace of mind, our security didn’t come for free,” Bonthoux said. “These guys paid the ultimate price.”
According to Bonthoux’s postcard, 31-year-old Dean McCallum Malloy of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa died on the second day of the Allied invasion on June 7, 1944.
The two-sided postcard contains a collage of D-Day images and on the back is personalized with the private’s name, rank and age.
Bonthoux, who has owned the home for more than 20 years, said the D-Day memento will go into his collection of documents on the home’s history.
“It’s kind of interesting,” he said. “I’ve got this kind of nexus with this young fellow now.”
Reflecting on the postcard and his newfound connection, Bonthoux said he can’t help but wonder how the young soldier would feel about his sacrifice.
“What they fought for and thought they had crushed seems to be alive and well and coming back to haunt us again,” Bonthoux said. “That’s one of my thoughts.”
Bonthoux said he plans to honour the young soldier by taking the postcard with him to future dedications and memorials.
The back of the postcard Denis Bonthoux received from Juno Beach Centre Association for the 75th anniversary of D-Day (Submitted)
