Funeral to be held March 7 for distinguished D-Day veteran Ernest Cote

OTTAWA – A funeral will be held in Ottawa next week for a celebrated D-Day veteran who is being remembered for a life full of adventure and accomplishment.

Ernest Cote died of natural causes Wednesday at age 101.

He is being called “a true Canadian hero” by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and has been lauded by several senior cabinet members and historians.

As a lieutenant-colonel, Cote was a senior planner for the invasion of Normandy and the logistics officer with the 3rd Canadian Division, which landed on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944.

Following the war, he had a distinguished career in the federal government as a diplomat and senior official.

He was most recently in the spotlight when he became the victim of a violent home invasion in Ottawa late last year, where he was tied up by a suspect who was later linked to a trio of unsolved murders.

Cote’s funeral will be held at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Ottawa on March 7. His family is asking donations to be sent to the Montford Hospital in Ottawa, where Cote died.