Battle of the Atlantic Heroes
Canadians are invited to share stories about their loved ones who served during the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest campaign of the Second World War. Below are their stories.
Do you have a story to tell? Please submit your account of your loved one’s service to Royal Canadian Navy Public Affairs. Please include high-resolution, scanned photos.
After enlisting in the Royal Canadian Navy, he was assigned to His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Loche Alvie and thereafter HMCS Huron, tasked with running special supplies and personnel to Murmansk in the Soviet Union.
He manned his anti-aircraft gun and fired at any enemy aircraft he identified. “We were all very afraid we would be sunk or killed, but at the same time we knew we had a job to do. Our skilled captain managed to maneuver our ship such that we did not lose a single man.”
Signalman J.B. Anstruther and L.M. Reed Anstruther both donned a Navy uniform in service to their country. Their paths of service led them both to His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Shelburne, a naval repair base located at Shelburne, N.S., where they met.
In the early days of the war, radar remained somewhat of a mystery to many – its concepts often misunderstood and technical expertise even rarer. Thus, the Royal Navy had a difficult time finding suitable officers to operate it. This was compounded by the fact that the Royal Air Force had taken most of the home talent to operate its own systems watching British skies.
January 5, 2022
On a particular night in 1942 however, the crew of C.S. John W. MacKay embarked on a new mission - the opportunity presented itself to steal 450 miles worth of unprotected enemy undersea cable that linked Italy and South America. This cable was later deployed to link up all the British cable lines off Africa and into the Indian Ocean.
April 30, 2021
Albert was posted to His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Restigouche, while Daniel was with HMCS Prince Rupert. Both brothers would be distinguished for their service during the war.
April 30, 2021
Able Seaman Fletcher Wallwork enlisted in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, and served aboard His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Montreal.
April 30, 2021
The crew of HMCS Louisburg, and its captain Lieutenant-Commander Frank Campbell of Toronto, were performing their duty while escorting convoy FKM-8, when they were hit by German bombers and torpedoed by submarines.
April 30, 2021
He started as an ordinary seaman and served in HMCS Burlington and HMCS Trillium. In 1944, he went to King's College in Halifax and was promoted to the rank of sub-lieutenant. In 1945, he served as a signals officer in HMCS North Bay and was at sea when Germany surrendered.
April 30, 2021
In 1942, he joined the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) at His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) York in Toronto and proceeded to Cornwallis, N.S., for his naval training. He trained as an engineering stoker and sailed primarily in the corvette HMCS Rosthern, K-169, as an able seaman.
April 29, 2021
Born in British Honduras (now Guyana) in 1902, Capt Strange was sent to boarding school in the United Kingdom. When the First World War broke out, he joined the Royal Navy as a cadet but was eventually discharged due to a vision problem. He moved to Trinidad where his parents lived, and then emigrated to Canada in 1929.
December 21, 2020
Major Geoff Wall’s grandfather, John Francis Wall, sailed with His Majesty’s Ship (HMS) Illustrious during the Battle of the Atlantic and served until 1945 when he was wounded in action.
September 17, 2020
He used to tell us about his time during the war. Once, he said his ship was off the coast of Newfoundland when it was rammed by a German U-boat. The ramming caused significant damage to the ship, but all of the crew was safe and survived.
September 2, 2020
My great uncle, Walter Slade, grew up in Kingwell, Placentia Bay and joined the Canadian Merchant Navy as a young Newfoundlander in 1939. He knew the danger of the U-Boat-infested North Atlantic as well as anyone as he sailed through those waters in 1940 during the opening phases of the Battle of the Atlantic.
September 1, 2020
William Thomas Harrison of Halifax enlisted into the RCNVR on June 14, 1944 at the age of 19. He was an ASDIC operator, or submarine detector, aboard the Bangor-Class Minesweeper His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Georgian J144.
August 20, 2020
I ended the war in May 1945 in the escort HMCS Wallaceburg, operating out of Halifax. We brought in the last west-bound convoy of the war to New York, picked up at sea from the mid-ocean. I still have the White Ensign we flew.
July 14, 2020
On the morning of May 8, 1945, His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Ottawa, along with the destroyer HMCS Restigouche, was alongside on the Dartmouth side of the Halifax Harbour, having just escorted the troopship Steam Ship Sithia into Halifax with returning wounded members of the Canadian Forces and a large number of war brides.
June 24, 2020
For his service in Europe he was awarded the 1939-45 Star, the Atlantic Star with France-Germany Bar, along with the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and 1939-45 War Medal. In mid-January 2016, the Government of France recognized him with its highest honour, the Legion of Honour, for his service at D-Day that led to the liberation of France.
May 11, 2020
My father, William Bruce Wetherall, served in the Canadian Merchant Navy from 1941-45. For six long years the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), the Canadian Merchant Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force were central participants in what was to be known as the Battle of the Atlantic.
May 7, 2020
My father, Able Seaman (AB) Harrison “Little H” Stumpf, was one of thousands of Canadians who answered the call during the Second World War and participated in a number of ways throughout the Battle of the Atlantic.
April 29, 2020
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