Photo: Up the Johns visit to First Nations University of Canada 2026 / Photo by: Lori Deets
BY Lori Deets
More than 80 years after the Royal Regina Rifles played a significant role in D-Day and the liberation of France from German occupation, the bond between the Royal Regina Rifles and a group of people from Bretteville-l’Orgueilleuse known as “Up the Johns” is as strong as ever.
The delegation was welcomed to First Nations University of Canada by Nelson Bird, the son of a Regina Rifle who landed on Juno Beach in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
It started over 10 years ago when group founder and president Antoine Piard started researching the soldiers who fought in Normandy and landed on Juno Beach.
Group delegate David Vollborth shares about fellow delegate Piard and the reason Up the Johns created the association.
“He [Piard] started an association when he realized that Canadian soldiers came and liberated his town. And nobody talked about them. Everyone talks about the American soldiers, it’s America, America, so he said, I want to find out more about this, where they came from and why they were coming here.
“And when you find out where they come from, it’s a long way away, they’re Canadian. People don’t know that.”
Vollborth, who was very grateful for the opportunity to come to Regina, says,
“Canadian warriors came down there and helped, so we’re here to learn a little bit more about where they came from and understand why they’d go overseas to a foreign country to liberate.”
In 2024, past and present members of the RRR travelled to Normandy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Members of Up the Johns opened their homes to the RRR, affirming those ties that started so many years ago.
Vollborth, who is a member of Up the Johns and a resident of Bretteville-l’Orgueilleuse, shares about hosting the RRR in France:
“We could show them where the battles took place there. And we’d go and visit Bény-sur-Mer, which is the Canadian war memorial, where there are the First Nation soldiers buried, and so it was an eye-opening for us.”
On Wednesday, the delegates travelled to Moose Jaw to visit 15 Wing and tour the Western Development Museum. They were then hosted and honoured by Peepeekisis First Nation at the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa. Vollborth says it was an emotional experience for them.
“And I have to be honest, I think most of us were very emotional through the first prayer song and the last one given to us. That’s not something we’d ever experienced.”
The Up the Johns Association will be returning to France on September 10. Vollborth says, “We have been received like kings here. It’s been embarrassingly good!”
You can follow Up the Johns visit here.