Kenneth Alfred Jukes,  North Shore Regiment, killed in France on August 8, 1944.

My mother Frances MARGARET Adeline Jukes told me about a warm summer day in August 1944 in Traceyville, NB. She was working in the garden of their next door neighbour. Her parents Leonard and Nancy Jukes had gone to Fredericton by  horse and wagon and would be gone all day. The neighbour emerged from her house and walked out back towards the garden, a piece of paper in her hand. Because Leonard and Nancy were away, a message had been delivered to the next door neighbour. The neighbour told Margaret (Maggie) that there was news of her brother and that he had been killed in action on 8 August, 1944.

Kenneth ALFRED Jukes
North shore Regiment

I cannot imagine my mother’s anguish and pain at this time. The neighbour insisted that Maggie keep this to herself and not tell anyone until her parents arrived home. She also insisted that she not tell her parents immediately upon their arrival home from Fredericton but to wait until after they ate their evening meal.

She explained that once they get this news they will not be able to eat for days.

So Maggie took her advice and during the meal her mother asked her a number of times, if there was something wrong as she sensed that something was bothering Maggie. Each time Maggie answered “No”. Then,  after supper she told her parents the terrible news. I imagine that it was a relief to Maggie to be able to share her grief with her parents, however what a terrible burden for a young girl to bear the responsibility of informing her parents of the loss of their son, not yet 20 years old. That night must have been one of the cruelest nights my grandparents and my mother experienced. My mother told me that she was thankful for the neighbour’s advice as her mother did not eat again for more than a week she was so overtaken with grief.

Maggie Jukes and Jim Brennan about 1947

After the War my mother met my father James Arthur Douglas Brennan, son of Clara (Stockley) and Will Brennan in Saint John.  (This is a story for another post) . As she was telling Jim about  her bother’s death in France she mentioned the date and the area where he died. My father realized that this was during the Invasion of Normandy and he knew what happened that day because he was there too. Both men were with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division , Alfred with the North Shore Regiment and my father,  a Gunner with the  Royal Canadian Horse Artillary.

Here is how my father explained it to me years later:
American Bombers who were providing air support dropped their markers short of the target and as a result bombed the 3rd Division Canadian Infantry which included members of the North Shore Regiment. I sat and watched  on the other side of the ridge from Alfred’s position when it was hit by “Friendly Fire”.

The War Record at the Juno Beach Centre described the same event this way:

On August 7th, armoured vehicles and tanks were positioned near the Verrières Ridge. At 2300 hours, heavy bombers were pounding the German defences and Canadians felt their enthusiasm growing as they heard the engines roar and the bombs explode. At 2330 II Corps’ columns started off on both sides of the Caen-Falaise road. Darkness and clouds of dust made progression increasingly difficult and several units lost their way. In spite of the heavy bombing, German artillery and tanks were able to put up a grim resistance. In spite of the confusion, II Corps reached its first objectives and was in position to proceed with phase two.
On August 8th, Lieutenant General, Guy Simonds who was in charge of the II Canadian Corp which included the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, requested the US Air Force to provide aerial bombing support. At 1300, 678 aircraft flew over German positions. The German Flak countered with accurate fire and several aircraft were hit. The leader of a 12-bomber squadron being heavily damaged dropped his bomb load before reaching its target and the other aircraft, reacting automatically did the same. The bombs fell far behind the combat line but in an area that was filled with Allied troops waiting to move up to the front. Some 65 men were killed and 250 wounded from the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and from the 1st Polish Armoured Division, not to mention equipment losses.

When my father told me this story I could not help but think back to that day in August 1944 when a young seventeen year old girl must have felt that France was such a far away place in which to lose her brother. Little did she know that the man she would meet and marry was also there in that same valley where her brother made the ultimate sacrifice.

Kenneth Alfred Jukes born 19 November 1924  is buried at Beny-Sur Mer Canadian War Cemetary where the Canadian men who gave their lives in the  landings at Normandy are buried.