Volume 23, No. 4, Winter 2017-18 Calgary Naval Veterans
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The Bosn’s Call Volume 23, No. 4, Winter 2017-18 A bus load of happy travelers prepares for the road trip to the Banff Springs Hotel for brunch. All that is, except for Ken Barche (far right), who looks like his puppy just died. Calgary Naval Veterans Association • www.cnva.ca CALGARY NAVAL VETERANS ASSOCIATION www.cnva.ca Skipper’s Winter 2017-18 | Corvette Club: 2402 - 2A Street SE, Calgary, AB T2G 4Z2 [email protected] ~ 403-261-0530 ~ Fax 403-261-0540 Log n EXECUTIVE Paris Sahlen, CNVA President The Bosn’s Call The Bosn’s F PRESIDENT • Paris SAHLEN – 403-252-4532 – RCNA, Stampede Board, HMCS Calgary Liaison, Club Manager. ere we are at the end of 2017. The Club has F PAST PRESIDENT • Art JORGENSON – 403-281-2468 – had another busy year with Battle of the Atlan- [email protected]. tic and Remembrance Day. We had some very F VICE-PRESIDENT • Tom CONRICK – 403-251-4419 – Sick and Visiting/FOCB, Museum, Regalia, Navy League Liaison. Hsuccessful bus trips to Nanton, Banff and Navy Days. F TREASURER • Anita VON – 403-240-1967. There will be an annual “Cowboy Up” in Victoria on May 11th, 2018. This includes a Day Sail aboard HMCS F SECRETARY • Chuck VON – 403-240-1967. Calgary. There will be a sign-up list posted in April and n DIRECTORS submitted to the ship on May 1st for anyone interested F Cal ANNIS – 403-938-0955 • Regalia / Charities / Honours & Awards / Membership. in going. We will be staying at the Ramada on Gorge. I would like to extend a big thank you to the Direc- F Bill BETHELL – 403-276-4252 • Casino/Bingo. tors and all the many volunteers who do so much for F Chuck VON – 403-240-1967 • Entertainment / Special Events. the Club. F Ken MADRICK – 403-601-1715 • Ass’t Bar Manager / Honours & Awards. On behalf of the Directors I would like to wish ev- eryone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! F Jim GOLBOURN – 403-281-4653 • Membership Chairman / Entertainment / Special Events. Don’t forget the Levee on January 1st at 1100. Food F Dave MADRICK – Inventory / Entertainment / Special Events. and a glass of “milk” will be served. F Tom SHIRLAW – 403-562-2474 • RCNA / Sick & Visiting. A retired Chief told me that a one to two hour nap every day keeps the doctor away ... I think I’ll try it now! n APPOINTMENTS F Rev. Lloyd NORTHCOTT – 403-283-8455 • Padre. Cheers, Paris F Lorne BAIRD – 403-512-5838 • Editor, Bosn’s Call / Navy League Liaison / RCNA. F Eric KAHLER • Master-at-Arms. F John NORTH • Phone Committee – 403-226-0502. The Updated 13 October 2016 Editor’s The Bosn’s Call is published by the Calgary Naval Veterans Association. Items may be Cabin reprinted without permission but kindly give credit to the author and/or The Bosn’s Call. Contributions are always welcome and should be sent direct to the Editor, Lorne Baird c/o the address at the top of this column, or by email to [email protected]. The Editor is Lorne Baird, ‘Bosn’s Call’ Editor solely responsible for the content of The Bosn’s Call. s we approach the festive season, I’m reminded Creative services and layout provided by ® of those for whom it brings no joy. I consider Cascade Creek Publishing LCdr (Ret’d) George A. Moore, President the families of the forty-four submariners who 1871 Primrose Crescent, Kamloops, BC V1S 0A5 A were recently lost off the Argentine coast. Those will Phone 250-314-1284 • Fax 250-314-1286 [email protected] struggle to find a reason to celebrate this year. It will be 2 The Bosn’s Call The Bosn’s a test of their resolve to sort out the meaning of it all. About this time of year in 1960, I answered a phone Hands call. On the other end of the phone was an RCMP con- stable from Hazelton. He asked to speak to an adult. | Since there were no adults home, he had to speak to to Winter 2017-18 me. It was his unfortunate duty to tell me that my Dad had been killed in a logging accident. After the call, I walked to the living room where my brothers and sis- Prayer ter were watching the Ed Sullivan Show. I recall Topo Rev. Lloyd Northcott, CNVA Padre Gigio begging Ed to “kiss me goodnight.” The lights were sparkling and the room seemed festive. I then any people are pessimistic about the future told my siblings that we were now officially, orphans. these days. Maybe it is worse for the long Those words seemed to draw the joy out of the room. nights and cold weather. To cheer ourselves We carried on and had some sort of Christmas a few Mup we string coloured lights and play Christmas music. days later. There is an ancient wisdom to the customs of the On December 15th, 1995, I came home from the season. The story of the Baby of Bethlehem is one of hospital and passed the word to my in-laws that our optimism for the future. daughter had died. My older daughter was 3-1/2 The angels sing of peace on earth and goodwill to- years old at the time. I made the decision to make wards all people. The holy family and the shepherds our Christmas as normal as possible. A few days and wise men briefly form a community. They dream later I took her to a tree farm and let her pick out a an impossible dream of Heaven on earth. It gives them Christmas tree. She took her time to find the one she courage to try despite the fearful odds. We need some thought was perfect and I helped her cut it down. of that courage to face the world we see about us. Bet- We carried it to the truck together then took it home ter cheerful than glum. Better try than give up. We are and decorated it together. not alone and together we can do miracles. That is the It was not my strength but the strength of the fam- message of Christmas. ily that helped me ride out the storm. During difficult times our shipmates are our lifeline in the storm. On another note, it is with sadness that I read of the Lest we forget... passing of Rear Admiral Bob Yanow and realized how many times our paths had crossed. When he was in command of HMCS Saguenay, he brought her along- side HMCS Kootenay and had the crew direct their hos- es on our port quarter to prevent our engine room fire from spreading. Later, he took four of our dead to sea for burial as Kootenay was not seaworthy. Many years later it would be Bob Yanow who presented me with my CD while on Ceremonial Divisions in Aldergrove. He was a gentleman who took the time to speak to everyone—never an air of arrogance about him. Fair Winds and Following Seas, Sir, you will be missed. Finally, I would like to extend my best wishes of the The crosses seem desolate in the pre-dawn atmosphere. season to everyone of you and hope to see you at the The Calgary Naval Veterans Association provided a colour Club over the holiday season. party for the Sunrise Ceremony this year as they have in the Lorne past. Their ranks grow thinner. 3 Service Honours Victims England on October 23rd, 1969. The fire and smoke from an explosion in a starboard gearbox left many of & Survivors of HMCS the survivors suffering from PTSD, although they didn’t Kootenay Disaster know it until years later. Three crew members took Winter 2017-18 their own lives sometime after the tragedy. Montague | and Johnston recalled the heroics performed by Rei- ffenstein and Robichaud, who died three years ago of cancer. They didn’t make themselves out to be heroes, but their descriptions of the actions they took that day The Bosn’s Call The Bosn’s leave little doubt. By Tom Ayers, Halifax Chronicle Herald The Sailors of HMCS Kootenay Capt(N) John Montague (Ret’d) CPO1 Vaino ‘Ski’ Partanen or four decades, retired Navy Captain John Mon- CPO2 William Alfred ‘Billy’ Boudreau tague did not speak about the tragedy that shook PO Eric George Harman Fthe Canadian Forces in 1969, when HMCS Koo- PO Lewis John Stringer tenay suffered an explosion and fire killing nine crew LS Pierre ‘Pete’ Bourrett members and wounding dozens of others. LS Thomas Gordon Crabbe But in a nationally broadcast interview on the 40th LS Gary Wayne Hutton anniversary of the disaster, Montague finally told a OS Michael Allen Hardy reporter about his experience as a 23-year old Sub- OS Nels Murray Galloway Lieutenant, and immediately broke down crying. He was overcome with memories again at a subsequent ith the exception of Petty Officer Stringer grave side ceremony and was told to go see a doc- who died in HMCS Bonaventure during the tor. After that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic Wreturn voyage and who as a result, was bur- stress disorder. Montague still gets emotional thinking ied in Canada, these were the last Canadian servicemen about the loss of lives and the horrific injuries inflicted killed overseas whose bodies were not repatriated. on his mates, and the aftermath that has affected each On October 23, 1969, one of the worst peacetime of the crew members—and their families—to this day. disasters in the history of the Royal Canadian Navy and “For 40 years I didn’t talk about it,” he said on Monday, the Canadian Armed Forces occurred.