LCI(L) 299 crossing the English Channel on D-Day, 06 Jun 1944

From the collection of Frank Tucker

Courtesy of Joe Phalen

Laid down: 24 Oct 1942

Launched: 21 Nov 1942

Transferred to RCN: 29 Jan 1944

Paid off: 01 Sep 1944

Fate: Unknown

LCI(L) 299 of the 2nd Canadian Flotilla carrying personnel of the SG&G Highlanders to the Normandy beaches on D-Day

Photo by Gilbert A. Milne. Department of National Defence / National Archives of Canada, PA-136986

LCI(L) 299 crossing the English Channel with the Invasion Fleet, D-day, 06 Jun 1944

Photo by Gilbert A. Milne / DND/RCN Photo

From the collection of Frank Tucker

Courtesy of Joe Phelan

Landing Tables for the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders.

Serial 1709 is LCI(L) 299

Source: Library and Archives of Canada

Courtesy of Cathy Ruch

"Let their be no doubt - they were the Glens!"

Correcting a 65-year-old mistake

The Maple Leaf , 08 Dec 2010

BERNIERES-SUR-MER, France — The famous photo of the Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry Highlanders’ (SD&G Highr’) D-Day landing on Juno Beach, which for years misidentified the soldiers’ regiment, is now displayed in the village where the event took place.

The Canadian Defence Attaché in Paris, Colonel Christian Rousseau, travelled to the Norman coast November 8 to present to the Deputy Mayor of Bernières-sur-Mer a large, framed photograph of the SD&G Highr disembarking landing craft LCI(L) 299 on Juno Beach 06 Jun 1944. An identical photograph was presented to Nathalie Worthington, the director of the Juno Beach Centre in nearby Courseulles-sur-mer, where it will be prominently displayed.

The photograph, taken by RCN Lieutenant Gilbert Milne at Juno Beach on the morning of the D-Day invasion, is perhaps the most iconic image of the Normandy invasion in the Canadian sector. It has appeared in many books, publications, magazines and posters. And, until recently, the unit on LCI(L) 299 was officially but incorrectly identified as either the Highland Light Infantry of Canada or the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. An oil painting in the City Hall of Bernières-sur-Mer, based on the photograph, wrongly identified the soldiers as being from the Regiment de la Chaudière.

The honorary colonel of the modern-day Glens, Bill Shearing, took the necessary steps to correct the historical record. By means of in-depth historical and archival research, as well as by an eye-witness account from a Glen who was there, John Angus McDonald, HCol Shearing succeeded last year in convincing Library and Archives Canada that the soldiers photographed disembarking from landing craft LCI(L) 299 where in fact from SD&G Highr.

Two other enlargements of the photo, each with a plaque recognizing the Glens, now hang proudly in the City of Cornwall and in the United Counties of SD&G Chambers in Cornwall.

“It was crucial that the historical record be corrected, both here in Canada and in Normandy,” said HCol Shearing. “That photo recorded the precise moment when the Glens landed in Normandy to begin their part in the liberation of Europe.”

“It is fitting that, now, the most famous image of the Juno Beach landing correctly identifies the heroes who were there,” said Glens’ CO Lieutenant-Colonel Rob Duda. “Let there be no doubt – they were the Glens.”

Screen capture of LCI(L) 299 from a film

Courtesy of Mathieu Masson