This 98-year-old stormed Juno Beach on D-Day. He's now the subject of an upcoming documentary
CBC
Jim Parks still vividly remembers the day he and his platoon stormed the beaches of Normandy more than 70 years ago.
Parks, a member of the Winnipeg Rifles, was among the first wave of Canadian soldiers to land at Juno Beach on June 6, 1944, two minutes before the main assault wave hit. His boat was struck by the Germans as heavy machine guns fired on them, forcing him to jump in the water.
"We had to sort of swim in," he said, remembering looking back and seeing a fellow soldier still in the water.
"We don't know [if] they're alive or dead," Parks recalled.
Parks, 98, who now lives in Mount Albert, Ont., about 67 kilometres north of Toronto, lied about his age to join the army, claiming to be 18 when he was actually 15. He joined up after his brother Jack Parks persuaded him to enlist. Both brothers stormed Juno Beach on D-Day, although they weren't on the same landing craft. And both made it out alive.
They were among roughly 14,000 Canadians who landed at Juno Beach on D-Day, joining the more than 150,000 allied troops who fought their way ashore on five beaches in Normandy that day. Some 359 Canadian soldiers died on D-Day, according to an account of the battle on the Veterans Affairs website, and more than 800 were wounded.
Both brothers are now being portrayed in a new documentary film titled Little Black Devils — From Juno to Putot, that is being shot in France. Parks said Little Black Devils was the name given to their team.
In 2011, the film's creator Frederick Jeanne met Parks in Winnipeg. Parks helped him write a book on the Royal Winnipeg Rifles called Hold the Oak Line.
"They were very close to death but they managed to escape the Second World War untouched," Jeanne said.
"Jim was a special witness ... He saw many things."
The five-part documentary film is set to come out in 2024, Jeanne says.
Parks credits his crystal-clear memory in part to being so young at the time of the war.
"I was just in the impressionable age when you're a teenager," he said.
"Everything that you get there is locked in … People remember a lot of things about their high school."
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