Leo Major

Léo Major was a scout and sniper with Le Régiment de la Chaudière who landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. Blown through a window and losing sight in his left eye, Major refused medical evacuation, insisting he only needed one eye to sight his rifle.

On the night of April 13–14, 1945, after his partner Willy Arsenault was killed, Major infiltrated the heavily garrisoned Dutch city of Zwolle alone. Running through streets firing machine guns and lobbing grenades into Gestapo headquarters, he tricked the German command into believing the entire Canadian army was attacking, capturing nearly a hundred prisoners and liberating 50,000 citizens single-handedly. He won a second DCM defending Hill 355 in the Korean War.