Captured in Normandy with Amanda Shepherd
Getting ashore on D-Day was one thing, staying ashore was something else. The men who stormed Juno Beach also had to hold it against major German counterattacks in the days ahead. It was a race against time. The Allies needed to build up their forces in Normandy, across 100 miles of English Channel, faster than the Germans could concentrate their forces to push the liberators back into the sea.
In the middle of all of this was Rifleman George Carvell of ‘B’ Company, The Royal Winnipeg Rifles. With us to share his story — from the timber mills of New Brunswick to his time in captivity until the end of the war in Europe — is Amanda Shepherd, George Carvell’s great-great niece.
Time Stamps
2:16 The Timber Man
6:18 Beginnings in the Military
10:05 Training and Integration
13:05 June 6th 1944
16:00 Overrun at Putot-en-Bessin
19:00 Captured (Not Murdered) in Normandy
23:57 Early Captivity
30:08 Piecing the Story Together
37:10 Liberation and Homecoming
40:15 Living and Remembering
Guest Biography
Amanda Shepherd is the author of I’m A Survivor, Not a Victim: The Experiences of Normandy Veteran George Carvell. The book was a labour of love since George Carvell was Amanda’s great-great uncle. It was also a scholarly endeavour, being based on Amanda’s Master’s thesis from work with the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick. She is currently an early learning instructor at NorQuest College in Edmonton, Alberta.
Notes
The following links offer more information on the topics discussed in this episode:
Podcasts
Stopping the Panzers with Marc Milner
Voices of Juno with Desaree Rosskopf
OSCVI’s War Dead with Dave Alexander
Juno75: Above & Beyond with Neil Orford
Events
Weapons & Formations
Canadian Army Units in the Normandy Landings
Credits
Juno Beach & Beyond is hosted and edited by Alex Fitzgerald-Black, the centre’s Digital Projects Coordinator.
Garth Webb’s quote about D-Day from the Testaments of Honour Historical Archive and the Defining Moments Canada website: https://definingmomentscanada.ca/jbc75/dday/webb/
Mackenzie King’s speech to British Parliament from the British Pathé YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SlEvclY5LE&t=48s
Artillery firing sounds from the CBC News: The National YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsCSQ4uWR1Y
Winston Churchill’s “Finest Hour” speech from Jonathan Thomas’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB5wZtV1MWM
Spitfire sound effect from Jason Kirby’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgZI4tAoMN0
Dramatic Interlude by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Dispatches from Juno shares all the news, events, and stories from the Juno Beach Centre in France and Canada. Interested in contributing a story to the blog? Email the editor at jbca@junobeach.org.
Leave a Reply