[Kyt]

Belleville Intelligencer - Ontario, CA

On May 8, 1945 I was at sea in that area of the North Atlantic which is known as "Iceberg Alley" at that time of the year. More specifically I was a junior officer aboard Canada's No. 1 Hospital Ship "Lady Nelson" en route from Avonmouth, England, to Halifax, N.S., with a human cargo of 516 patients in various stages of convalescence.

They were, for the most part, members of the military who were injured in the service of our country on the battlefields of North Africa and Italy or during their stint of combat duty as members of the Navy and Airforce.

What is the significance of the date May 8, 2008? For the benefit of those among your readers who may not know the answer to that question, I offer this reminder that the date, as mentioned, will mark the 63rd anniversary of the end of the war in Europe and also the anniversary of the winning of the Battle of the Atlantic.

On May 8, 1945, the German U-boats surfaced and flew black flags of surrender. It was not known for sure whether some would continue to fight, so conveys held their structured ranks, until finally, on May 28 all ships at sea switched on their running lights to signal the end of the longest battle of the war. The Battle of the Atlantic was over; it had lasted 2,075 days.

Sir Winston Churchill, who is arguably identified as the greatest statesman of the 20th century, was First Lord of the Admiralty when war was declared in 1939. During the heat of the battle at sea he recognized, in full measure, the intestinal fortitude of merchant seamen who kept ships moving. In late 1942, he saw the gravest threat of war - that they would crack under the strain and that the merchant service would collapse.

The Battle of the Atlantic carried a huge price tag. Two thousand ships were lost to surface raiders, aircraft, and above all, U-boats; 22,000 British merchant seamen and 10,000 naval personnel lost their lives.

The Royal Commonwealth Navies lost 76 ships in the North Atlantic ranging in size from fleet minesweepers to the battle cruiser HMS Hood. Ten Royal Navy and three Royal Canadian ships participated during every year of the war.

When war began there were 37 ships and 1,400 personnel in Canada's Merchant Navy. By the end of the war, these numbers had grown to over 180 ships and 12,500 personnel.

Indeed it is a matter of record that Canada's merchant fleet was engaged from day one of the war and soon suffered staggering losses in men and ships. By war's end, as many as 72 Canadian merchant ships would be lost to enemy action - torpedoed, bombed, mined, or shelled.

The records show that approximately 50 per cent of merchant crews went down with their ships and, sadly, all too often drowning sailors had to be abandoned as a grim alternative to the creation of a situation where a rescue attempt would have placed greater number of sailors at the mercy of the U-boat kapitans. The number of ships lost included 23 that were torpedoed and sunk in the St. Lawrence River.

The records also show that the Merchant Navy suffered the highest death rate of Canada's four fighting services - fully 13 per cent of those who served or, to put it another way, a ratio of approximately one in eight.

On Nov. 11, 1994, a Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance was unveiled in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill. It contains the names of known Merchant Navy war dead as an addition to the roll of those who gave their lives in the cause of Canada and it completes a symmetry in the chamber, the fifth point on a pentagon formed with four other books that surround the original First World War altar.

In summary, Battle of Atlantic Sunday, which is scheduled to take place on May 4, 2008, commemorates the sacrifice of sailors, merchant seamen, RCAF and Canadian Army personnel who gave their lives in the North Atlantic. The elements were often as vicious as the foe, with raging storms, pack ice, bitter cold, fog and the dense blackness of North Atlantic nights. The RCN and the Merchant Navy made nearly 26,000 safe crossings, carrying over 181 million tons of supplies to Great Britain and Russia.

To mark the anniversary, Veterans Affairs Canada will be conducting an in-Canada pilgrimage over the period of May 2-5, 2008, with remembrance ceremonies and events to be held in Halifax, N.S. In addition to the above a National "Battle of the Atlantic" Commemoration Ceremony will be held in Ottawa on Sunday, May 4, 2008.

The following tribute to the wartime veterans of Canada's Navy and Merchant Navy is inscribed on the memorial that graces the park at the lakefront at Burlington, Ont., where the ship's bell of HMCS Burlington is on display, quote:

In Memoriam

ON ALL THE OCEANS

WHITE CAPS FLOW

WE DO NOT SEE CROSSES

ROW ON ROW.

BUT THEY WHO SLEEP

BENEATH THE SEA

REST IN PEACE

BECAUSE OUR COUNTRY

IS FREE.

THEY SHALL GROW NOT OLD

AS WE ARE THAT ARE LEFT TO GROW OLD

AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM

NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN.

AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN

AND IN THE MORNING

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

- Author anonymous

Here on the local scene Belleville Veterans Council will be holding their Annual Vimy and Battle of the Atlantic Memorial Service at the cenotaph on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 2 p.m. The parade with colour party will form up on Reid Street for the short march to the cenotaph and all members of the public are encouraged to attend.

P.H. (Phil) Etter is Director-Ontario (Easter Region) of the Canadian Merchant Navy Veterans' Association Inc.