By Andy Irwin I was born in Regina, Saskatchewan on May 28th, 1925. We lived in Yorkton until 1931, when, after my parents separated, my mother moved my sister and me to New Westminster, BC where we lived with my grandmother. I attended Lord Kelvin Elementary School, and then on to Lord Lister Junior High, which in those days included grades 7, 8 and 9. There were several minor diplomatic crises between Britain and on one side, and Germany over the latter’s aggressive actions in Europe in 1937-38. Consequently, by 1939 Britain became very concerned and, to get Canada on their side, arranged a Royal Tour for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. New Westminster, known as the Royal City, annually held May Day events. On this particular occasion I was asked to lead a Andy Irwin, 1944 Semaphore Flag presentation in their In the fall of 1941 a Sea Cadet Force was honour. It was an exciting assignment for a being formed and I was one of the first to fourteen year old. leave ‘scouting’ and join Sea Cadets. I really When World War II broke out in enjoyed the training and discipline and in September 1939 I was a newspaper delivery less than a year became a Leading Cadet. I boy for the Daily Province. think my Scout training helped. Newspapers were the main source of news In February 1943, at the age of 17, I in those days; television had not yet entered joined the Volunteer our lives. On that fateful Sunday, September Reserve as an Ordinary Seaman. I earned the 3rd I was standing at a Street Car stop princely sum of $1.30 a day, plus room, yelling, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it. board and clothing. My Basic training was Britain and France go to war with done at HMCS Discovery in , Germany!” Newspapers sold for 5 cents, of Vancouver, just an hour away by electrified which I received just 2 cents. I was a Boy train. Following this, we went to HMCS Scout and enjoyed doing all the activities Naden in (Victoria). Every involved. second week I would catch one of the Living where I did, on the shores of Canadian Pacific Steamers and go home for the Fraser River, I was always going down a few days. to the docks watching the foreign vessels In late September 1943, after two unloading products from, to me, unknown weeks of ‘embarkation leave’ I boarded the countries; and loading lumber from the local Canadian National passenger train for the mills for their return trip to their homelands. trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I was to be The Fraser was a major source for stationed at the ‘Stone Boat’ HMCS the famous Sockeye Salmon and many other Stadacona. Shortly after, I was assigned to species of fish. I would spend hours the (British) Algerian watching vessels unload their catches, which , HMS Lightfoot. We did work- were then delivered to local canneries for ups (exercises in gunnery, ship maneuvers, processing. These activities and my attempts etc) out of Halifax. By early December we to build small boats wetted my appetite for were deemed ready for escort duties. the sea. December 1943. Andy Irwin’s first convoy, SX, Halifax to Liverpool

Slow Convoy SX, December 1943 where we handed Lightfoot to the Royal In mid-December we departed Halifax Navy. bound for St. John’s Newfoundland (Newfie On our first night in Rosyth, Port John) where we were to pick up an Watch was given shore leave until midnight. eastbound convoy to Britain. A few hours A group of us went into Edinburgh and out of Halifax we hit severe storms for Force discovered the Palais de Danse. There were

7-8 and had to seek shelter of 24 hours in two bands on a revolving stage. We had a Argentia, Newfoundland. The convoy we great evening dancing with the Scottish were to join was an SX, meaning slow lassies. However, when we returned to the moving (6 knots) so when the storm ship I discovered that one of those lovely subsided we, being able to do 15 knots, lassies had lifted my wallet! I had no ID and picked up our station before the convoy was this resulted in me being confined to the ship too far out to sea. for seven days. I had to remain on board Our convoy consisted of 40 ships in under an all Royal Navy crew! five rows of eight. The escort group was After confinement, I was sent to the made up of one , four and Canadian Manning Depot HMCS Niobe in HMS Lightfoot. We spent Christmas at sea, Greenock, on the River Clyde near Glasgow. and as we were only covering 170 miles a Within a few days I, along with 50 others, day, the trip took close to two weeks. We was sent to the John Brown’s Shipyard encountered one U-boat, which managed to (builders of the famous Queen Mary and get inside the convoy lines, and sunk one Queen Elizabeth) as the pre-commissioning freighter before being driven off by a depth crew of the HMCS Algonquin. charge attack. We were formally commissioned on Finally we docked in Liverpool, the February 17, 1944 under the command of Western Approaches HQ city for Britain’s then 30-year-old Lieutenant Commander Atlantic operations. After delivering the Desmond W. Piers, DSO, RCN. ‘Debbie’ as convoy we left for Rosyth, a journey that he was known, was a permanent Navy type took us north along Britain’s west coast, and previously served for a short time as the across Scotland’s north coast and south Commanding Officer of HMCS Restigouche along the east coast to Rosyth (Edinburgh), (Rusty Guts) when he was 29.

Portsmouth on the south coast of . We actually anchored off Seaview on the Isle of Wight on May 27. I turned 19 the following day. We could tell that something big was going on because of all the shipping. Speculation was running wild. We carried out several night patrols in the on June 4. On the afternoon of June 5, we learned that Operation Neptune, the naval component of the invasion of Europe Hits on the Tirpitz was to commence that evening. We undertook workups on the At 1600hrs, we weighed anchor and Clyde and in the Irish Sea. In early march proceeded to our rendezvous point off we proceeded to , the British , Isle of Wight where we joined with Home Fleet base in the Orkney Isles. We HMS Hillary the Headquarters ship of Force were the junior vessel attached to the 26th ‘J’ (). Enroute we passed HMCS Destroyer Flotilla. Here we did some more Prince Henry and HMCS Prince David, two serious workups, practicing gunnery and former passenger liners from the BC coast. anti- exercises, along with Our initial role was to escort HMS Hillary, and anti-aircraft shoots. which carried Major General Keller, On March 31 we sailed from Scapa Commanding Officer of the Third Canadian Flow for a major offensive against the Division, and his staff, to the assault area off German Tirpitz, holed up in Alta the Normandy coast. Fjord in Northern Norway. This was known HMS Hillary got underway at as and consisted of the 1800hrs with HMCS Algonquin astern Fleet Carriers HMS Victorious and HMS followed by a flotilla of LCI (Landing Craft Furious, the Victory Carriers, HMS Infantry) carrying Royal Marine Searcher, Emperor and Fencer, carrying 40 commandos. As we steamed through the barracuda bombers and 40 fighters. The 26th Solent, Clear the Lower Decks was piped Destroyer Flotilla with eight , and all hands gathered around the CO, Lt. including HMCS Algonquin and our sister Commander Piers, DSC. The route to the ship, HMCS Sioux, formed the escort group. beaches of Normandy was swept of mines The Tirpitz was located and 15 and the channel marked with Dan Buoys direct hits were made doing extensive (Blue Lights). While a surface attack was damage to her upper deck, including possible, the biggest danger was drifting destroying her 15-inch ‘B’ Guns. There mines. were also casualties, 122 of her crew of We closed up action stations at 2400 were killed and over 300 injured. We midnight and sailed in darkness until 0500 were designated to be the rescue vessel for hrs when the sky started to brighten. What a the operation. One of the fighters overshot sight! Ships of every size, landing craft and the carrier deck and we proceeded to pick up barges as far as the eye could see. It was the pilot. We put our whaler (an 8 man amazing that there had been no collisions rowboat) over the side and eventually picked reported during the crossing. up a cold and soggy pilot. This was a risky At 0600 hrs the and business because Algonquin was at a dead opened fire on the shore batteries stop for 30 minutes and we were an easy U- and other defense positions. The noise was boat target. thunderous. I believe HMS Rodney was We continued operations along the outbound on Juno Beach and it was eerie to Norwegian coast until May 25, 1944 when see her 16-inch shells passing overhead, our destroyer Flotilla was ordered to inbound for the beach. Around 0630 hrs the sky was thick the next was a bit long, then 13 on target to demolish the position. I later learned that we had helped Le Regiment de la Chaudiere.

rd Andy Irwin (3 from left standing) cleaning 4.7 gun off Juno Beach. with Allied aircraft; a huge mass of bombers th On the 55 Anniversary of D-Day, I met inbound to blast shore positions followed by Sgt. Jean Minville, one of the Chaudiere’s aircraft towing gliders loaded with troops. we helped! We could see them going in to land under On Sunday, June 18th, we escorted heavy fire. It was unnerving to see some hit the battleship HMS Rodney from and disintegrate. back to Normandy. On board with us was We commenced our bombardment General H.D.G. Crerar, C.B. JXS.O at 0700 hrs. Our initial target was a battery Commander of the First Canadian Army, of two 88mm guns. When they were and his staff of 22 officers. This was a proud silenced, we targeted other houses and moment for HMCS Algonquin as it was the building along the shoreline. We ceased fire first time a Canadian Army Commander, at around 0745 hrs in preparation for H hour flying his Canadian Army Standard from our (landing time) for the infantry. They had starboard yardarm, had gone into battle in a been proceeding past us in landing craft Canadian . during our bombardment and were due to hit On June 19, (D+13) we were called the beaches at 0800 hrs. to bombard the eastern flank at Gonnerville At 0900 hrs, as we were slowly where commandos were to make a dawn moving up and down the landing area, an attack. We later received this signal: “ The LCI came along side and asked us to take Commanding officer and all ranks of the 45th off casualties. A mortar had landed in their Royal Marine commando wish to record craft killing one and injuring five. They their appreciation of the excellent support were taken to sickbay and treated by ‘Doc’’ received during our operation. Its success Dickson. Two later died of their wounds. was largely due to your co-operation.” The landings were well underway On one of our last Normandy but at 1100 hrs we received a call from our patrols, we were returning to base after Artillery Officer spotter on shore to take out dodging parachute mines, when we three 88mm German guns that were holding witnessed our patrol partner, HMS Swift, hit up our advancing troops three miles inland. a mine and sink within minutes. Our first 4.7 guns put the first salvo short; On June 28, 1944 we departed

HMCS Algonquin, circa 1944

Operation Neptune to return to Scapa Flow. In November we learned that Tirpitz We again commenced operations with the had finally been sunk with the loss of 1204 fleet to attack shipping along the Norwegian killed and 806 survivors. The RAF had sent coast. In August, a Victory Class carrier, a force of 32 Lancaster bombers on HMS Nabob, with an all-Canadian crew, Operation Catechism. One bomb had a was assigned to Operational Group. She was direct hit on a magazine (ammunition), commanded by Captain Horatio Nelson Lay, which spelled the end. RCN! For the balance of the war we Late on August 16, 1944 we continued action in Norwegian waters and, departed for Operation Goodwood 1 and 2 during the Christmas and New Year of against Tirpitz. Our attack group consisted 1944/45 also with convoy runs back to of the Battleship HMS Duke of York, three Murmansk. On the Murmansk run we were cruisers, three fleet carriers, two escort in the worst storm we’d ever experienced. carriers and the 26th Destroyer Flotilla. The We could not keep the convoy together in a aircraft attacked in the morning and storm with Force 8-9 winds. afternoon of August 22. February 15, 1945 we arrived back As we were withdrawing for the in Canada. We were in Halifax for a refit, night, HMS Nabob was torpedoed and eight leave and all the good things of home. I minutes later, HMS Bickerton was also passed my Officers Board before Captain torpedoed. We picked up over 200 survivors ‘D’ in Halifax and after 30 days leave of Nabob, which was still able to limp back returned to HMCS Cornwallis for Officers to Scapa. The operations against Tirpitz training. carried on until August 29. May 8th, 1945 saw the end of After a convoy to Murmansk in hostilities in Europe. I was invited to ‘sign Northern Russia, we joined an attack group Pacific’ for more combat duty. I declined, that targeted enemy shipping off the took my discharge and returned home to Norwegian coast. The group included two attend the University of . cruisers and four destroyers. Operation Counterblast was a success. We attacked an Andrew A. Irwin enemy convoy and destroyed eleven of its ships and left one aground and burning.

By ‘Vi’ Connolly.

I would like to take you on a journey that was undertaken by a young woman, who at 19 was a newlywed, working full time and living with her in- laws. That woman is me. It was early in 1942 and I had just said goodbye to my new husband Bill, who had left Hamilton for war. He joined HMCS Athabaskan, a destroyer in the Royal Canadian Navy. This journey unfolds over a period of three and a half years, marked by devastation and isolation; inspiration, faith and most of all, love. On Sunday, April 30, 1944 I followed my usual routine. I went to church and sang in the choir. When I got home, my mother-in-law told me that I had a phone call from a Mrs. Hayes, whose son, Bill, was also on the Athabaskan. I called Mrs. Hayes and she asked if I’d heard from Bill. I told her of his most recent letter that had arrived the previous week. She said, “I mean more recently.” I told her no, and that’s when she burst out, “the ship went down last night!” ‘Vi’ Connolly Needless to say, I couldn’t respond, I just In the next few days, we learned that collapsed in my mother-law’s arms, who, HMCS Athabaskan, with a crew of 260, had immediately and without hesitation said, been torpedoed by a German ship. We also “Bill’s OK!” Mother’s intuition? learned that HMCS Haida, the sister ship, The news started the most had picked up 47 survivors who were named devastating and frustrating times of my life, and were on their way home. My husband’s and that of our immediate family and name was not one of these so-called ‘lucky’ friends. Yes, it was war after all and men, but Bill Hayes was. although I knew that tragedy could happen, When Bill Hayes’ returned to it didn’t lessen the constant ache in my Hamilton, I couldn’t understand why he heart. didn’t come to see me right away. I soon Although the days that followed learned that he had seen my Bill’s action were so difficult to manage, it was the station, the communications section, blown nighttime that I completely dreaded. It was right off the ship. This piece of information impossible for me to fall asleep; visions he had carefully chosen not to share with engulfed me. I knew that Bill was a good me. Bill did his best to explain that it was swimmer; in fact he was a lifeguard. almost impossible for him to account for However, questions still flooded my mind. anyone’s whereabouts in the water, as it was Was he able to swim to shore? Was he utter chaos. Of course, I was looking for any frightened that the enemy would find him? thread of hope on which to hang on to Was he wounded and still in frigid water during this period of time. calling for help? All I could do was to cling In the weeks that followed, the to my faith and pray that to God to send my Germans announced that they had picked up Bill some help. 85 survivors of the Athabaskan and that they had been sent to a POW camp. They also

HMCS Athabaskan stated that they had no intention of giving Much later, we learned that 91 bodies had out those names. That left a total of 128 been washed ashore along 150 miles of unaccounted for. We waited for three long, French coast. The bodies were retrieved and lonely and tortuous months before the Red buried in 9 different civilian cemeteries. Cross was able to convince the Germans to Some could not be identified and the abide by the Geneva Conventions and markers simply read, Known only to God. release the names of the POWs. Today, 37 men are unaccounted for and their Unlike today, communication in the bodies remain in the sea. early 1940s was scarce to none; there was no The news of my Bill’s capture home telephone, no TV, no Internet. Our reached us by ordinary mail. We had a main sources of information were the radio, darling postman on Locke Street, Hamilton. local newspapers and word of mouth. Every time he had a letter from my husband, Eventually I received a telegram from the he would ring the doorbell twice! The government telling me that Bill Connolly morning he recognized Bill’s card in his was “missing.” pack, he came directly to our neighbourhood As time passed, the Red Cross and along the way, he told all of our friends provided the prisoners with a pre-printed and neighbours the good news. post card. It was signed by my husband and By the time he reached our house, sent to us confirming news that I had been there were at lest a dozen men and women hoping and praying for, that he was alive, behind him. Some were waving flags and albeit a prisoner in a German POW camp. others were shouting, “He’s alive, he’s The news for many other families alive!” I was at work that morning, so my was not good, “Missing, presumed dead.”I mother-in-law had the pleasure of receiving remember thinking how inconceivable and them. When I got word of the news, I told what a sheer sense of hopelessness this my boss and he enthusiastically let me home message gave to those families. Our hearts early that day to celebrate with my family. bled for them and we could only pray that As I took off down the stairs of the they would receive the strength and courage plant where I worked, everyone was to sustain them in their deepest sorrow. hammering on their machines, their way of saying, ‘hooray.’ I was happy, but I must recount a short story about three young West Hamilton men named Bill. They all lived and grew up within a few blocks of each other but did not meet until they joined the Athabaskan in England. All three were in the communications branch of the ship. All three fates were different. As I mentioned, Bill Hayes was the ‘luckiest’ of these young men of a ship later called ‘The Unlucky Lady.’ Bill was picked up by sister ship, HMCS Haida. My Bill was picked up by a German ship and became a POW. However, the most ill fated was Bill Stewart. Bill Stewart was a great pal of my Bill and he was reported missing, presumed dead. Sometimes it is hard to celebrate your good fortune while others suffer the most incomprehensible sorrow. On a personal note, not knowing the fate of my husband took its toll on me. My family doctor suggested that I become more involved with the war effort. When Bill left for war, I was a telephone operator. Upon reading the Hamilton Spectator, I decided to answer an ad for work in a steel mill. There was a need as men were off to war. I worked in a few places but the last Bill Connolly and Vi, 1942 place I worked was the Sawyer Massey Argus Company. I was asked to work on Although this period of challenge lasted ‘Top Secret’ radial drill and drilled large only three and a half years of my 67 years of holes into the edge of a 5” thick (12.5 cms) married life with Bill, at the time it seemed round steel base that would fit under a 4” like a lifetime. When I look back, I realize (10 cms) naval gun. that going through those tumultuous times I later learned that these gun shaped me and made me the person I am mountings were placed under guns on Tribal today. Class Destroyers like my husband’s ship, To all of you I say, go forward and HMCS Athabaskan! Was this irony or enjoy every precious moment of your own destiny, or both? life journey. Vi Connolly It was truly exciting work and I remained there until my husband returned home. It was during this time that I had a photograph taken at the drill and it became a poster to illustrate the hard work that women in Hamilton were doing. It was for a campaign to showcase ‘Women in the Workforce.’ With thousands of other women in Hamilton and across Canada, we played a part in the war effort.

The history of war is mostly taught as a case of us against them, of good against evil and it is always written by the victors. The world is shown only in black and white whereas in reality there are just various shades of grey. On both sides lives are lost, tears are shed, cemeteries are places of remembrance. Having been on the side of the losers I am glad to be allowed to tell my own story of fighting for my country. The treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War left Germany in a peculiar situation. Let me illustrate this by presenting a completely hypothetical case. Let us assume that for some reason or other the Province of Quebec had been ceded to the United States, cutting Canada into two parts. To get from one part to the other one had to cross the border between Canada and the U.S., being strip searched and harassed before finally being allowed to reach the other part of Canada. That describes to some extent the effect the Polish Corridor had on German travellers. To avoid the hassle at Werner Hirschman circa 1943 the border Germans usually went by sea to decided I wanted to go to sea and become a get to East Prussia. naval officer. Preferring engines to guns and That this situation presented an torpedoes I wanted to become a naval international problem was almost engineer. Later, of course I had to find out universally recognized, but as a British that the Chief Engineer on a war ship had Historian Liddell Hart wrote in his The the responsibility for the commanding Origins of the Second World War, ‘The officer’s coffee water boiling quickly purpose of political activity is to provide enough. When I recently compared notes peace and prosperity; and in this case every with the Chief Engineer of a Canadian statesman failed, for whatever reason.’ I found out that his problem was the This is a story without heroes, and temperature of the commanding officer’s perhaps even without villains. These words bath water. describe our own feeling as kids going to an, By the time I was accepted as a to us, quite unnecessary war, especially cadet at the age of 17 the war had broken out since we had always looked at England as but that event did not affect my choice of a the country closest to us in culture and profession. I was simply going to do my job values. Germany was not fighting for world as an engineer, war or no war. Having read domination but simply in search for a about and their role in the First solution to a problem. Apart from that World War, it did not entice me at all to Germans in general were, of course, become part of that branch of the Navy. I complaining and bitching about their was not interested in spending most of my government as much as the inhabitants of all time under the sea rather than on the surface. countries always do. Unfortunately in the military you do what As a kid I became quite fascinated you are told to do and I was told to join the with Naval history. I read all the books submarine force. After extensive training describing the lives of Drake, de Ruyter, over more than two years I became the Chief Nelson, Farragut and others and early on I

Engineer of a submarine. In our submarines and couldn’t wait to go out on the next the Chief Engineer, apart from having mission again, supported by our irrational responsibility for the function, maintenance belief that it would always be the other guy and damage control of all technical who wouldn’t come back. We, on the other equipment, was also the diving officer, in hand, had all the skills to avoid destruction! control of all the activities while being The world is always being told how submerged. As such the fate of a submarine terrible life was on our submarines but was very much in the hands of the Chief which other fighting soldier, especially in Engineer. the infantry, had three warm meals a day, The war at sea for German always had a warm bunk, kept warm by the submarines consisted of two very separate guy who just went on watch, slept up to 15 periods. The war began with the so-called hour a day, and whose major problem was Happy Times, when the efforts to sink cargo boredom? ships supplying England with its necessities For weeks we were fruitlessly was very successful, but later changed into looking for ships to attack but when we what we called the Sour Pickle Time, when finally did our encounter with the enemy the chances of survival for us became almost could very suddenly change our boredom non-existent. Altogether we had about 820 into sheer terror. In a submarine under submarines that became engaged in facing attacked by depth charges one feels totally the enemy and we lost about 780. Of about helpless. Since with the minimal speed 40,000 submariners about 30,000 died and available one can’t run away and one can about 5,000 became prisoners-of-war. only hope that after the next explosion one is Survival was not a matter of skill, courage still alive. Anyone who claims not to be or experience - it was a matter of luck. afraid in such situation is, in my opinion, a In the last year of the war just being liar. detected by surface vessels or aircraft Movies about submarines under inevitably sealed the fate of that submarine. attack always show them rolling through And yet, fully aware of our chances of arcs of 90 degrees with people hanging on survival, we nevertheless just continued to for dear life or being thrown around like do what we considered our duty, namely puppets. That is absolute nonsense. The practice our profession. Being on leave, after submarine, being a mass of a thousand tons two weeks at home we got ants in our pants surrounded by an almost solid medium, any other branch of the armed forces. In addition we were spoiled with extra rations of merchandise otherwise no longer available like expensive wines and liquors, coffee, silk stockings - remember, there was no nylon yet - for their ladies and so on. But being on leave was not always very pleasant with more and more German Cities being destroyed and having to spend quite a number of hours in an air raid shelter. I happened to be on leave when an incendiary plunged into the attic of our home causing a fire that I was lucky enough to extinguish. Despite the war being one of history’s biggest events we found it difficult to think about the war. It was a bit like the weather. Whether you liked it or not, you couldn’t do anything about it. Complaining Werner Hirschmann takes a cigarette break was of no use. And other things seemed to be much more important anyway. Whether namely water, doesn’t move at all. A my newest prospective girl friend would submarine under attack is visually as accept my invitation to go out, occupied my interesting as watching paint dry. Movie mind much more than the success or failures makers, find it important to add the of our armies in Russia. I dreaded the imagined drama in order to sell their film. A thought of having to explain to the father of depth charge exploding in close proximity that - or another - girl friend why his feels like a blow with a giant sledge hammer daughter didn’t come home the night before, on to an immovable object. The shock can more than having to explain to my cause tremendous damage and then the commanding officer why the repairs to our submariner has no longer time to be afraid boat had not been completed yet. but has to jump into immediate action to I did not fight in the war - I happen repair the damage. This can go on four hours to live at a time of war. I simply did my job or, with a few hours of respite in between, as a professional, namely to operate the boat for a few days. But if the depth charge under water, to keep it functional without comes too close, nobody on the submarine any outside help and make sure it was able will still be able to tell their tales. to return to port. It really wasn’t all that After the encounter has ended the different to anybody spending his working old bravado returns and one wouldn’t day in an office, except that our working change the life of a submariner for anybody days were up to four months long before we else’s. Submariners of any nation are got home for dinner. Most of us, however, extremely proud of the exalted status they didn’t come back to dinner at all. enjoy. They always look at themselves as Let me assure anybody who is the elite of the armed forces and enjoy the emotionally overwhelmed by all the talk perks that come with it, like extra pay for about the so-called sacrifice and laying dangerous work and others. When a German down one’s life when going to war that I had submarine was lucky to come back from a absolutely no intention to do so. As a matter mission after three to four months at sea it of fact I haven’t met any veteran from either was always in need of extensive and time side who did. We did our very best to keep consuming repairs and updates. That allows our life and those who lost it had taken it for much more leave for their crews than in away from them. Those who did not survive

U190 surrenders to RCN, May 13, 1945 the war did not sacrifice anything - they submarines, would have said to himself, if were sacrificed by incompetent politicians he had found us, that there was no point in on all sides. sinking us since we had lost the war already. The absurdity of war is so clearly In 1995, after laying a wreath at the illustrated by the fact that veterans from memorial cairn for the Esquimalt I was both sides who years ago did their made a card carrying Honorary Life kill each other, today can live in peaceful Member of the Esquimalt Memorial harmony and genuine friendship together. Association. With many of these survivors I My submarine sank the last Canadian developed a deep and meaningful friendship warship, the HMCS Esquimalt, in April and with my wife have been guests in their 1945, about three weeks before the end of homes from coast to coast. Unfortunately the war. Since we submariners never saw or today only one of them is still alive and felt the fate of our victims it was only in well. 1986 that I read what happened to the 71 I might as well mention that my crew members of that minesweeper. Very submarine surrendered to the Canadian few were killed by the explosion itself but Navy on May 13, 1945 and I became a since it took six hours before the survivors prisoner-of-war at The Gateway Hotel in were finally picked out of the water only 26 Gravenhurst in Ontario. It was the best time were still alive. of my life until then and made me fall in In 1993 I met one of the survivors in love with Canada. We were treated like Halifax and to the surprise of the media we guests of the country. Not being happy in became instant friends. As he put it in a the destroyed Germany I came back in 1952 radio interview, “We did our duty and he and have been a proud Canadian Citizen did his. He was lucky and we were not.” since 1957. Some people thought that it was entirely Contrary to many stories and myths unnecessary for us to sink the Esquimalt at about German submariners I hope I can that time considering that we were obviously convey the fact that we were neither heroes aware that Germany had lost the war. I nor villains but just a bunch of very ordinary don’t believe that the commanding officer of people being thrown in the turmoil of the the Esquimalt, under order to sink German World war by circumstances completely beyond our control.