D-Day veteran shares experiences of war at Calgary Remembrance Day ceremony

Kenneth Sturdy, a Second World War veteran who was born in Wales in 1920, visited Calgary’s Lord Beaverbrook High School Thursday for a Remembrance Day ceremony with students.

“This event every year is like Christmas, we never forget it,” he said. “It brings back memories of service, whether we were army, navy or air force–we never forget.”

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READ MORE: Remembrance Day 2016 – a list of events in Calgary

Sturdy joined the navy at 20 years old, and three years later he landed on Sword Beach with the 41st Royal Marines. That was D-Day: June 6, 1944. He remembers losing many men.

“It is a memory of old buddies that you’ve lost,” Sturdy said.

Watch above for Global’s interview with the 96-year-old, who speaks of the differences in battlefields then and now, the friends he’s lost and the importance of Remembrance Day.