D Day: One Year After

First Anniversary of D Day; Back to the beaches; Normandy; Newsreel number 75

June 4, 2025

Featured photo above: June 6, 1945. Juno Beach. Sgt. L.E. Weekes CFPU films the First Anniversary of D Day service. Credit: Weekes Family Archives.

While June 6, 2024 marked the 80^th anniversary of the D Day landings in Normandy, June 6, 1945, my father, Sgt. Lew Weekes was tasked to film the First Anniversary of the landings as observed on the beaches. The footage he shot was used in Canadian Army Newsreel #75.

In searching through his negatives and letters prior to archiving them, I found one letter in particular where he recorded the trip down from Brussels to the coast, and also mentioned many of the locations he passed through, on his way up from the beaches in 1944.

This letter, and considerable time spent on Google Maps, and Street View, gave me information I needed to provide locations to many negatives from an envelope, only marked “D Day Anniversary”. The original letter, (complete with all its typos and flying capitals), now resides at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. (Attached are my scanned Weekes Family Archive copies.)

Back to the Beaches Letter pages 1-4. Credit: Weekes Family Archive, Library & Archives Canada. (NOTE: Click to enlarge, and use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out for a more closer view).

Shown below are a few of the photos from that trip. Some, (the ones with Dad present), were likely taken using Dads Rolliflex, by either Lt. Gord Aikman, or Sgt. Chris Travis, of the British Army Film and Photo Unit (AFPU).

In May 2025 my wife and I are travelling to France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany, to visit many of the areas Dad filmed, and travelled through. We will be marking his 80^th anniversary of this assignment. I have arranged to stay in the same location Gord Aikman was billeted in 1944, in Camilly which is now a hostellerie, (Le Domaine de L’Hostellerie)…

Above photo: June 4, 1945. Camilly, France. Lt. Gord Aikman CFPU and Capt. Gillian Hessey-White meet the child born when he was staying there in 1944. Credit: Weekes Family Archives, Library & Archives Canada.

…and we will be near where Dad was billeted with Gord Petty, Bud Sherwood, and Jimmy Campbell. We will also overnight at the hotel on the Seine, where they lunched on their way back to Brussels…

Above Photo: June 6, 1945. La Ruche Hotel, Rolleboise, France. Lunch on the Seine on the return to Brussels. Credit: Weekes Family Archives, Library & Archives Canada.

We look forward to meeting the current proprietors, and will present them with copies of the photos of their establishments for their own archives.

Above photo: June 4, 1945. Camilly, France. Lew’s billet in Camilly from 1944, now sporting red geraniums on the window sill. Credit: Weekes Family Archives, Library & Archives Canada.

Above photo: June 5, 1945. Gruchy, France. Walking through the still destroyed village. Credit: Weekes Family Archives, Library & Archives Canada.

Above photo: June 5, 1945. Quesnay, France. Gord Aikman examines a wrecked Tiger tank. Credit: Weekes Family Archives, Library & Archives Canada.

Above photo: June 6, 1945. Bernieres-sur-Mer, France. Sgt. Chris Travis AFPU leaving Chateau de Quintefeuille. Credit: Weekes Family Archives, Library & Archives Canada.

Above photo: June 6, 1945. Bernieres-sur-Mer, France. Page from Lew Weekes photo album. Credit: Weekes Family Archives, Library & Archives Canada.

Above photo: June 6, 1945. Bernieres-sur-Mer, France. Children dressed in traditional costumes await their part in the D Day celebrations. Credit: Weekes Family Archives, Library & Archives Canada.

Above photo: June 6, 1945. Juno Beach. What is now called la Maison Canadien, seen from the beach a year after the landings. Credit: Weekes Family Archives, Library & Archives Canada.