north shore news

=) NEIGHBORHOODS &

CANINE siblings Buffy and
Beau Jewesson want to thank
the people who take such
good care of the Ambleside
Dog Walk.

“We thank you for giving,
us fresh water tor a drink and
of course for the ‘doggie
bags.’ We oniy wish more
masters would pick up after
their dugs.”

~ NORTH SHORE

<a an

EN conjunction with a
Canada-wide SPCA Adopt-a-
thon, the North Vancouver
branch is holding its first
annual open house this
Saturday and Sunday, May 3
aad 4,

All are welcome, including
four-legged family members
ona leash. Events will include
face painting, agility demon-
strations, a dog wash and
more. Entertainment on both
days runs 1G a.m. until 6 p.m.
The shelter is located at 299
Mansfield Pi., North
Vancouver. For more informa-
tion, call 988-7484.

THE International Order of
Job’s Daughters is looking for
new members. The organiza-
tion is open to girls between

Wa the ages of 11 and 20 who are
related to a master mason — if

you don’t know of a mason in
your farnily tree, the organiza-
tion can help you find out.

The order is not a religion
or creed but a safe, alcohol
and drug-free environment for

oung girls to have fun, make

Kfetine ime friendships, travel,
learn public speaking and
responsi p.

For more information, call
Janice Evans at 986-2980.

ON behalf of the Heart and
Strcke Foundation of B.C.
and Yukon, community devel-
opment coordinators Marcia
Berger. and Janet Keinper
would Eke to thank the 1200
North Shore residents who

_, volunteered their time to can-

“vass door to door during the
February fundraising cam-
paign. North and West
Vancouver raised $134,000.

THE 75th annual conven-
tion of the Vancouver
-Archdiocesan Council of the
Catholic Women’s League of
Canada is to be held on the
North Shore May 6 to 8. The
women’s league will be hold-
ing events at St. Stephen’s
Church, St. Pius X Church
and Christ the Redeemer
Church, during the conven-
tion.

Forward all information,
including your name, address
and telephone number to
Neighborhoods, c/o Michael
Becker. E-mail to
michael@nsnews.com. Fax to
985-2104 or mail to 1139

_-Lonsdale Avenue, North
Vancouver, V7M 2H4.

“S.c. FIRSD
PUY SOME GROWN: FRUIT

. ope
ee

Seamen remember this Sunday

By Jack Vassos .

Contributing Writer
VEN though it was 55 years ago,
Al Wedmark, now 75 and retired,
remembers it well.

The Burnaby man was a young sailor aboard the
destroyer HMCS Ottawa on that fateful night in
1942 in the North Atlantic when the torpedo
struck.

Along with several other ships, the Ortawa had
been battling for four days to keep a submarine
wolf pack from a convoy of merchant vessels.
Shortly before midnight on that fateful night the
Ottawa was hit in the fo’c’s’le, the forward sec-
tion, by a torpedo.

Wedmark, asleep at the time, was almost
thrown from his hammock by the impact. He
scrambled topside shortly before a second torpedo
hit, nearly cutting the ship in half.

He managed, with a number of others, to get
into a carley float and pull away as the destroyer
sank out of sight.

It wasn’t until hours fater that a ship came by
with a scrarnble net hanging over its side. The hap-
less seamen grabbed frantically at the net, most
managing to clamber abuard the still-moving ves-

ok

N

“The memorial, located on
the North Vancouver waterfront
just west of Lonsdale Quay,
is unique to Canada, and
lists the ships and the men
that perished at sea during the
Second World War.”

sel. But Wedmark didn’t make it. Someone

stepped on his head and knocked him back into

the water. He watched in anguish as the ship

pulled away, leaving him alone, floating in the
ark.

His time wasn’t up, however. He was picked up
in a lifeboat from another ship. Others were not so
lucky.

Oniy 76 of a complement of 190 men were
saved, not counting casualties among the merchant
seamen the Ottawa had picked up earlier from a
sunken tanker.

Wedmark will be one of many veteran sailors

, aa une May.

ome . eae aon : w
|)Red. Shield Appe&l month. .:

remembering lost shipmates at a special service this
Sunday at 11 a.m. at*Sailors Point Memorial to
commemorate the “Battle of the Atlantic.”

The memorial, located on the North Vancouve
waterfront just west of Lonsdale Quay, is unique to

Canada, and lists the ships and the men that per-. - 4

ished at sea during the Second World War.*
Dedicated in 1986, the memorial was conceived
and built through the combined efforts of the

Vancouver Naval Veterans Association and the City §

of North Vancouver. “4
In attendance Sunday: will be veterans of all.
navies, including merchantmen from B.C. and
Washington State.
The eldest will be
Coughtrey, veteran seaman of both World Wars, .

96-year-old Charles: -_ :

and a resident of George Derhy Care Center in’ .

Burnaby. .

A nostalgic touch will be added by the 26- fj

member Naval Veterans’ drum and bugle corps, §&

dressed in the original seamen’s uniform of their
day. ; :

The band will later entertain veterans at Branch
118 of the Royal Canadian Legion on 15th Street
and at Branch 45 of the Army, Navy and Air Force
Veterans on Third Strect.

Juck Vassos, a West Vancouver vesident, served on
the HMCS Crescent during the Second World War. . (ip

r

IAY STH...PLEASE GIVE,