“Lead from the front” sounds great in a boardroom—here’s how it looked when bullets, not KPIs, measured performance.
On 6 June 1944, the North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment—a scrappy band of fishermen, woodsmen, and farmers—landed on Nan Red, Juno Beach.
Their training was so exemplary that they were given the honour to lead the assault alongside the Queen’s Own Rifles.
Commanding them was Major Archie MacNaughton, a First-World-War veteran. Headquarters told the 47-year-old he’d “done his bit” and could sit this one out.
He refused.
D-Day found the North Shore pushing inland toward the German communications hub at Douvre-la-Délivrande. In the hamlet of Tailleville, MacNaughton rounded a corner and met a machine-gun nest. He was killed instantly—one of 4,414 Allied dead on D-Day.
Last week I stood at his grave in Bény-sur-Mer, row after row of Canadian maple-leaf headstones stretching into the horizon. I first visited in my twenties and saw him as “the old man.”
Now, at 45, I’m almost his age.
Perspective shifts; sacrifice does not.
Why share this here?
Leadership is action, not position. MacNaughton chose the riskiest role because trust is earned beside your people, not behind them.
Excellence gets noticed. The North Shore’s relentless training moved them from supporting cast to centre stage on history’s largest amphibious assault.
Memory shapes identity. 10 years of studying history, 6 months of it in Normandy have taught me that honouring and commemorating the past sharpens our moral compass for decisions today.
This was called “the last good war.”
The challenges we face now are different, but the standard of courage and commitment remains.
Let’s earn it—every day.
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It was an honour to go back last week, after a decade, with Kyle Racki and show him around.
Alexander Fitzgerald-Black – You’re doing an incredible job of keeping the memory alive at the Centre Juno Beach – Juno Beach Centre
Lest we forget. 🇨🇦
