Lieutenant-Colonel Julien Bibeau
Régiment de Maisonneuve

But impressive as this official recognition of its service undoubtedly is, glimpses more vivid and human into the quality of the regiment’s spirit are provided in certain recorded incidents. Such is the story of how Lt.-Col. Julien Bibeau won the D.S.O. at Calcar, when some members of the regiment had been surrounded by Nazi paratroopers, and he had led a party to their rescue shouting: “Follow me, we are not going to let our boys get killed like that!”

(Montreal Gazette, 29 Nov 1945, 8)

Born in Montreal in January 1908, Julien Bibeau was a graduate of the University of Montreal and sales manager for Maple Leaf Mills. Having belonged to the Cadet Officer Training Corps at university, he took a commission with the Régiment de Maisonneuve in 1937. He graduated from senior officer school in 1943, and by the time the regiment deployed to France after D-Day in July 1944, he served as second-in-command under Lieutenant-Colonel Lefort Bisaillon.

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