The federal government is going to help the Juno Beach Centre weather the pandemic.

Veterans Affairs has announced up to $500,000 in extra funding over the next two years for Canada’s only Second World War museum in Europe.

Zoomer Radio and Classical FM recently featured a 96-year-old Ontario survivor of the Second World War who last year helped raise money for the beleaguered privately-run museum.

Jim Parks  landed on Juno Beach when he was just 19 and last year served as ambassador for the Remembrance Day Virtual Races.

“Our boat was hit and we were sort of ditched into the water and I got side swiped by another boat coming in and I swallowed a lot of water, ended up on the beach and I had no weapons, I had nothing left,” Parks recalled the horrors of that day.

The museum is just steps from where Jim landed on the beach in northern France where Canadians went ashore on D-Day.

It was already facing financial pressures before the pandemic hit and it was forced to close.