LÉO TEE

On June 6, 1944, Léo Major landed in France with the rest of the Canadian contingent on D-Day. Major fought his way past the beaches with the rest of the Canadians and single-handedly captured a German armored vehicle (a sign of things to come) before advancing into France. Just a few weeks later, a German soldier tossed a grenade toward his position. The grenade exploded and Major lost virtually all sight in his left eye, an injury that would have sent most soldiers back home to sit out the rest of the war.

But Léo Major wasn’t most soldiers. He slapped an eye patch over his ruined eye and asked to be allowed to keep fighting. “I was a sniper. I still had one good eye and could still shoot.

In April 1945, as the Canadians advanced north into the Netherlands, they came upon the German-occupied city of Zwolle. Léo Major and another soldier who was a friend of his were sent into the outskirts of the city shortly after dark on April 13 as part of a reconnaissance mission.

During the mission, the two ran into a pair of German soldiers who opened fire on them. Major’s friend was hit and mortally wounded. An enraged Major then returned fire, killing the Germans, but it was too late to save his friend’s life.

He first found a German officer and, gun in hand, convinced him that a major Canadian force was coming to obliterate them. Major then released the officer so that the man would encourage his comrades to evacuate and warn them that an attack was imminent.

Major then spent the rest of the night simulating that massive attack on the city all on his own.He ran from position to position firing at groups of German defenders and throwing grenades. When each pocket of German troops figured that they must be under attack from a huge force of Canadians, Major showed up to take them prisoner, eight or ten at a time, and turn them over to Dutch resistance members.

By morning, he had captured more than 50 men and forced the rest to retreat. Canadian troops soon entered the city with no opposition. Major had liberated Zwolle’s 50,000 people by himself.

Léo Major was also the only Canadian and one of only three soldiers in the British Commonwealth to receive the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) twice in separate wars.