Garth Webb

Who was Garth Webb?

Garth Webb was a Canadian soldier who founded the Juno Beach Centre. Webb fought in World War II as a member of the Canadian 14th Field Artillery. He has been awarded the Meritorious Service Cross and the Legion of Honour medal.

Webb was born in Calgary, Alberta in 1918. He was educated at Queen's University, and graduated from the Canadian Officers' Training Corps in 1942. He was a lieutenant in the Canadian Army assigned to the 14th Field Artillery. He fought on D-Day at the Juno Beach landings where he came ashore at Bernières-sur-Mer with his self-propelled Priest artillery vehicle.

After the war, Webb completed a degree in commerce at Queen's University and moved to Toronto where he was a real estate appraiser.

Visiting the beaches of Normandy during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Normandy Landings, Webb noticed that there was very little to mark the efforts of Canadian troops. This spurred him to lead an effort to build the Juno Beach Centre, a museum and education centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer, France. For his work to found the Juno Beach Centre, Webb was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross from Canada and the Legion of Honour medal from France.