There is a special irony in the fact that members of Canada's Olympic Team travelling to the 1936 Berlin games shared the same ocean liner as the group of veterans on a pilgrimage to visit the official opening of the Vimy Ridge memorial honouring the national sacrifice of World War I. Another war was closing fast and Vimy would receive many visits by Canadian servicemen in the next few years. The victors of the Normandy battles in the summer of 1944 posed at the base of the great sun slanted monument they had all heard about, their presence on leave a portent of future victory and sacrifice as they chased the defeated German Army up the coast of France and into Holland. These men and women visited the First War graveyards of relatives in Etaples and Wimereux in the Pas de Calais and then became parts of graveyards themselves in Groesbeek and the Reichwald. So much had changed and yet so little. The Canada of 1939 had again gone to war in response to Britain's appeal but more slowly as though weighing the options a grown-up should do when confronted with a major decision. But go she did, and this time strong in all three services - Army, Navy and Air Force along with the Merchant Navy. In New Brunswick, growth in population and regional influence resulted in the establishment of three front line battalions - the Carleton & York, the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment and Princess Louise's New Brunswick Hussars, the latter an armoured formation. All went to England and trained, then trained some more, waiting for action. Meanwhile, other New Brunswickers had been serving in the Navy and Merchant Navy in the North Atlantic with its dreaded January gales and mountainous waves. At least bad weather sheltered the convoys from the worst ravages of U-Boat interceptions. Calm seas and moonless nights were worse, especially when group attacks by wolfpacks began. As if this were not enough, the U-Boats brought the war to Canada's doorstep in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the approaches to the Bay of Fundy. Some New Brunswickers joined the Royal Air Force in time for the Battle of Britain but most were in the R.C.A.F. as fighter and bomber pilots or support crew. All three services worked together on D-Day as the North Shore Regiment landed at St. Aubin sur Mer with air and naval support. Meanwhile the Carleton and York had broken the Hitler Line in Italy and the 8th Hussars would win accolades further north at the Gothic Line. Both units later transferred to northwest Europe in 1945 to join First Canadian Army as the war neared its end. Finally, as always, the technical and industrial support on the home front kept the forces in the field, on the sea and in the air. Canada and New Brunswick entered the post war world as a leading industrial power with a rapidly integrating workforce, a template for progress in competitive peace-time environment.

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