Facts, opinions, and experiences surrounding the World War II D-Day invasion will be shared from 6 to 8:30 p.m. April 26 in the Rainy River Community College Theater.

RRCC professors Joe Chlebecek and Mark Rooney will host the fourth annual WWII presentation that this year focuses on the June 6, 1944 invasion.

“We realized that audience appeal is important and the Allied invasion of Normandy is recognized by a broad range of college students and community members,” Chlebecek explained of this year’s topic. Admission to the presentation is free.

According to www.army.mil, the D-Day invasion began when 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. More than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot hold in Normandy.

The D-Day cost was high — more than 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded, but more than 100,000 soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.

“Mark and I will be giving the actual verbal presentations,” Chlebecek explained. “We will also field questions near the end of the evening. I will bring the historian’s eye to the discussion and Mark will build on his multi-faceted background. Academically, we overlap in the field of sociology.”

Rooney explained that his primary focus will be on the Canadian part of the D-Day invasion.

“Approximately 700,000 Canadians fought during World War II,” he said. “Canadians, part of the British Empire, were responsible for Juno Beach. Approximately 20,000 Canadian troops stormed ashore, facing live machine gun fire the same as the Americans and British.”

Rooney added that he encouraged Canadians who are interested in their country’s history to attend the presentation.

“This is an adult presentation,” Chlebecek noted. “Folks in the audience will be seeing some of the gruesome realities of modern warfare.”

The two instructors and Chlebecek’s WWII history class have been preparing for the presentation and discussion since January and hope to fill every seat in the theater April 26.

“The students in my WWII class will have played integral roles in making this presentation possible,” Chlebecek said.

The political science instructor added that in some ways, this presentation is a thank you to the community which has supported the college in various ways over the years.

“WWII is the most researched and written about topic in global history for real good reasons,” he said. “Community members can expect to refresh their memories on historical figures, add to their knowledge base of WWII specifics, and contemplate war in general.”