Special Services Brigades of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade were assigned to assault Juno Beach, which was divided into the “Mike,” “Nan,” and “Love” sectors, with the objective of securing a beachhead and moving inland to link with British forces on Gold Beach to the west and Sword Beach to the east. Strong German defenses, bad weather, and particularly rocky terrain contributed to Juno Beach having the second highest number of casualties. The Canadians succeeded in landing and moving inland to connect with the British on Gold, but did not link with the British on Sword, and by midnight on June 6 there were close to 1,000 casualties reported. Allied combatant forces included the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, Canadian 2nd Armoured Brigade, and British No. 48 Commando, while Axis units included the 736 Grenadier Regiment and 21st Panzer Division. Richard Rohmer joined the Royal Canadian Air Force when he was 18, flew several sorties on D-Day, and is best known for his mission of July 17, 1944, when on a reconnaissance flight he spotted a German staff car he reported was carrying General Erwin Rommel, Commander of German forces in Normandy; unable to engage, he called in Group Centre Control, which sent two spitfire planes to the location, and Rommel’s car was hit, leaving him with severe head injuries before he was forced to take his own life three months later after being implicated in the plot to kill Hitler. Sergeant Leo Gariepy of the 6th Armored Regiment, First Hussars, commanded an amphibious Duplex Drive tank, and although a particularly bad current and heavy winds hindered most of the tanks in his regiment, he managed to land his tank, named “Bucephale,” and its four man crew safely on Juno Beach despite the weather and Nazi resistance. Dorothy (Molly) Mulholland, a Nursing Sister with Canadian No. 2 Mobile Field Hospital Unit, and two other nurses were the first Canadian women to land on Juno Beach, where they set up a mobile field hospital amidst constant bombing and frequently worked 72-hour shifts while sleeping in trenches to survive; her service was stretched from three months to eight as her unit supported the 2nd Tactical Air Force as they advanced through Europe and the Battle of the Bulge. Ralph Spencer, an engineer with the Royal Canadian Army Engineer, landed on the shores of Normandy and was hit in the left leg and knee by machine gun fire, but reached shore while bringing six men from the surf with him, and for his bravery he was awarded the British Military Medal.