With a global pandemic falling just when 75th-anniversary celebrations of milestone Allied victories from World War II would have occurred, the Port Hope Skeena Sea Cadet Corps facing the paradox of honouring one of these key milestones with a pared-down recognition to accommodate the social-distancing requirements.
Executive Officer Lt. Chris Barker outlined these plans in a recent interview, with the hope that the community will nonetheless remember those who paid the ultimate price in the Battle of the Atlantic this Sunday.
In the normal course of things, the cadets organize a remembrance service at the Port Hope cenotaph the first Sunday in May each year – the official anniversary of a battle that begun two hours after war was declared on Sept. 3, 1939, and ended when Germany surrendered May 8, 1945.
This year would have been different, as the cenotaph was to have been undergoing work on May 3. But they would have planned a wonderful service in the warm, dry Skeena Hall at 17 Mill St. S. with a special guest of honour – Gord Woods who, from all Barker can determine, may just be the community's last surviving Battle of the Atlantic veteran.
Appropriate recognition would have been made of Woods's service, followed by a reception where everyone could pay their respects personally.
Instead, the scaled-down tribute to the sailors and ships that served and (in too many cases) were lost will consist of Chief Petty Officer Second Class Bradley Barker playing Last Post on his trumpet on the front steps at Skeena Hall at 11 a.m. Perhaps, Barker said, the lonely sound of the brass notes echoing through empty downtown streets will carry its own message.
Instead of a wreath-laying at the cenotaph, they may lay wreaths on either side of the building's entrance beneath the commemorative plaques honouring the Cobourg and Port Hope warships.
Everyone is certainly welcome to come and have his or her own moment of remembrance at an appropriate distance, Barker said. And until Sunday, he has arranged for replica flags of that era to fly in front of Skeena Hall – the red ensign (Canada’s national flag during World War II), the white ensign (which flew on each ship’s stern), the blue ensign (which flew on each ship’s bow) and the current Naval Jack.
For background, he provided a couple of stories – the saga of the battle and the biography of the man who served in it.
The battle story came from author and historian Roger Litwiler, who wrote of the struggle of the Navy to protect the all-important supply convoys that carried fuel, munitions, food, weapons and other vital supplies where they were needed. So great was that need, Litwiler said, that many Lakers – ships designed only to sail on the Great Lakes – were pressed into ocean service until larger ships could be built.
In their work, they faced deadly threats form the German Navy and her surface raiders, battleships and cruisers out to sink merchant ships and starve England into surrender. The greatest threat, of course, was their U-boats, which actually sank 23 ships in the St. Lawrence River after penetrating Canadian waters.
The Canadian Navy entered the war with six destroyers, 13 minesweepers and only 2,000 sailors, but that force would be augmented by more than 100,000 Canadians who enlisted to join the fight at sea. And by the end, the fleet Canada amassed was the world’s third-largest Navy.
Losses would be heavy – 33 Navy ships sunk with some 2,210 RCN sailors and 752 RCAF air crew lost, as well as more than 1,600 merchant sailors. In return, between the RCN and RCAF, more than 50 U-boats were sunk, along with a multitude of enemy merchant ships and warships.
In all the RCN escorted some 25,000 merchant ship voyages from Canadian and American ports, delivering 165-million tons of cargo to continue the war against the Nazis.
Battle of the Atlantic commemorations are an important part of remembering a victory without which, according to Winston Churchill, the Allies could not have own the war. The Skeena Cadets each year invite what Barker calls the Naval community to gather for this purpose at the Port Hope cenotaph.
One of those honoured is Gordon Woods, born July 29, 1923, in Weston, Ont. He volunteered for the Navy as soon as he turned 18 and, upon being called up in 1942 to HMCS York in Toronto, reported to the large HMCS Cornwallis training facility in Nova Scotia. He has often shared memories of the train trip there – so slow, family members recall, that they were able to jump off in the Annapolis Valley, fill their hats with apples, and jump back on the train.
From Halifax, they boarded the RMS Lady Rodney to make their way to St. John's, Nfld. After that, his home was the HMCS Avalon until finally drafted to the Flower Class Corvette HMCS Fennel. Within hours of leaving St. John's, he was in the open ocean and the fury of the North Atlantic that he would know for the next three years. His family reports that he was prepared to go to the Pacific next if the war had not ended.
Woods met his future wife Muriel while on leave in July 1945 at Toronto's Palais Royal. They married two years later, and came to live in Port Hope when Woods got a job at Davidson Rubber (later known as Textron). Their children Debby and Murray remained in Port Hope, eventually giving the couple their five grandchildren – who in turn produced eight great-grandchildren (with another on the way).
Upon his retirement, Woods was delighted to become involved with the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets Skeena, assisting with important projects and making many friends.
He is a treasured member of what Barker terms the area's Naval Community, a strong and devoted bunch. Back in 2010, at their big dinner in honour of the Canadian Navy Centennial, they had more than 200 in attendance.
The cadets themselves took a recent trip to Iceland in honour of their namesake ship, and remain in touch with the last surviving sailors who served on her – Norm Perkins of Toronto and Peter Chance of Victoria.
On Sunday, even though they are on stand-down during the COVID-19 emergency, the cadets will be focused on Woods.
Following Sunday’s 11 a.m. tribute, Barker will pay a quiet visit to Woods to present him with the Naval Jack that was flown all week as a tribute for his service, as well as a surprise from the Crow’s Nest Officers Club (of which he is a member himself) – a lifetime membership.
All this doesn't preclude a belated ceremony at a later and safer date, Barker added. But for now, “I just want him remembered.”