SUNDAY
November 9 2014
ELECTION 3
NorthVan City candidates BRIGHT LIGHTS 14
North Shore Hospice SPORT 41
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Veteran of D-Day recalls his year on the front lines STEFANIA SECCIA sseccia@nsnews.com
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When Norman Kirby was a boy, his father regaled him with tales from the Great War — the blood spilt, the freezing cold trenches and the raw fear of coming face to face with an enemy soldier. Years later it would be his turn to leave the North Shore where he grew up, heading to his introduction to his generation’s war — arriving on the shore of Juno Beach in Normandy, France where the Canadians landed on D-Day. “At the start there was nobody more afraid of a German soldier than me,” he said. “My father was in the Great War and he told me what a tough thing it was and I was scared to death of actually meeting up with a German soldier. I thought: the guy is going to kill me.” He was just 18 years
old when he landed in Nazi-occupied France, immediately thrust into the chaotic nightmare that was the Invasion of Normandy. Adrenalin kept him going and the Bren gun (machine gun) he was trained to use assisted in keeping him alive. “I was scared. So was everybody else,” he said of his first few weeks of wading into enemy frontlines. “I know the first time I had to spend a night out there, every time I heard a noise I got my Bren gun and I just shot everything in sight. “It was pitch black at night but usually in the morning I’d look out and there’d be a few dead cows. I wasn’t taking any chances.” But Kirby’s courage would eventually win the battle inside of him. His performance in the war has led to him now See Kirby page 7
Three more NV pedestrians struck Victims taken to Lions Gate Hospital with head injuries
BRENT RICHTER brichter@nsnews.com
It was a particularly dangerous day for North Vancouver pedestrians Tuesday. Three people were sent
to Lions Gate Hospital with head injuries after being struck crossing the street. “It’s very unusual,” said Cpl. Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman.
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De Jong said the weather and change back to standard time and its shorter daylight hours may have been contributors. The first incident happened just after dawn Nov. 4 when a 25-year-old woman was knocked to the ground by a man on a scooter as she crossed St. George’s Avenue at First Street.
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The woman was taken to Lions Gate Hospital with a concussion as well as a laceration above her eyebrow, De Jong said. No charges have been laid. “He just didn’t see her,” De Jong said. The second victim was a 64-year-old man who was jaywalking across 13th Street toward Lions Gate Hospital when he was
struck by a Volkswagen moving at about 40 kilometres per hour, said De Jong. The victim was helped into the emergency room where he was given five staples to close a head laceration. The driver told police he couldn’t see the victim due to the sun being in his eyes. Police are not
considering any charges. Emergency crews were tasked for a third time just after 6:30 p.m. when a 63-year-old woman was knocked down while walking through a construction zone at West First Street and Semisch Avenue. “It turns out the flagger See Look page 5