Facing those unhealthy

From page 32

Despite my fairly successful
attempts to do so, and despite
the admiration and gratitude I
have for the Navy, T inevitably
tind the old resentment
welling up at this time of year
when [ inadvertently tune in
to a cenotaph ceremony, or
even when I’m asked to buy a
poppy!

To case these unhealthy
feelings and after all these
years of silence, 1 decided to
sound off. Who knows, all this
might stir the conscience of
one of our worthy federal rep-
resentatives.

I really do try to forget
those long hours of cold,
fatigue and dread spent
preparing and waiting
for the worst to happen

*— and then the terror
when it did. Thirty-
eight times we were
convoyed across the
North Adantic in a
wallowing seven knot
time bomb. Of the 10
beautiful . Furness
Pacific cargo liners, ours was
the only one not lost. She sur-
vived hits by both a dud tor-
pedo and a dud aerial bomb, a
near miss by l1l-inch shells,
and 2 few fog-related convoy
collisions.

Then there was that hard-
to-forget dash across the
English Channel in the

‘doomed. Merchant Navy
assault ship L.S.I. (L) Empire
Halberd carrying 16 LCA’s —
each with 40 commandos —
and two LCM’s (landing
barges) .to the _ initial
Normandy assault on D-Day
morning. Then... etc., etc.

‘Trying to forget all that is a
piece of cake compared to for-
getting that although I was
involved in more deadly situa-
tions, spent far more time at
sea,.and was trained on more
types of armament than 90%
of the’ “armed services,” I
received no help whatsoever
in re-establishing myself after
the war. No business or pro-
fessional loans, no land or
housing grants, no retraining

or higher education grants, no
pension (despite my weakened
back and burned eyes) ete.

Here are a few more of the
many reasons for this outburst
of resentment: Rear Admiral
L.Murray, Commander-in-
Chief, Canada NM. Atlantic
said: “The Battle af the North
Atlantic was not won by the
Navy or the Air Force. [It was
won by the courage of the
Merchant Navy.”

Despite this admission, |
resent that so litte was done
for the Merchant Navy com-
pared to what was done for
the uniformed services.

By June, 1942, one mer-
chant ship was lost every four
hours. Convoy ON5-154 lost

“ TI predict that when we are down to
about 500, and in an election year, the
government will win points by ««fering us

should be well noted, howev-
er, that the Navy escort was
incensed at Whitehall’s orders
to abandon so many fellow
seamen to their inevitable fate.

In 19420 it was revealed
that some 400 ships had been
lost to U-boats operating off
the U.S. East Coast.
Historians are now permitted
to point out that in terms of
the effeer of this on the war
effort, it was the worst defeat
ever suffered by the American
Navy.

The American admiral
King, who despised all things
British, was finally forced to
adopt the British/Canadian
convoy system. This soon put
an end to most of the mer-

an apology and full ben efits. ”

10 of 38 ships when attacked
by 20 U-boats. Convoy 5C7
lost 12 ships in one night.
Another of my convoys was
attacked by the battleship
Admiral Scheer. She had six
11-inch guns. We had a Worid
War I Japanese Navy 4-inch
gun. Between May 7 and May
9, 1942, 38 merchant ships
were sunk during — battles
between 70 (yes, 70!) U-boats
and escort ships in the
Mediterranean.

The first Murmansk con-
voy lost 22 of its 33 ships
when the Royal Navy aban-
doned it off Norway. The
Navy was ordered to withdraw
in order to protect a nearby
cruiser squadron from the
battleship, Tirpits.

Tirpits was actually at
anchor in a Norwegian fjord
at the time. As a result, some
300,000 tons of war materials,
including 250 P38 fighter
planes, were lost.

Little mention was ever

made of the 22 lost merchant
ships and their crews. It

chant ship carnage, and
helped begin the destruction
of the U-boat fleet. Again,
history records few words of
comfort for the families of the
crews of the 400 lost ships.
On average, fewer than
50% of the crew ofa merchant
ship survived its sinking,
although one Canadian sea-
man was torpedoed eight
times — twice being the only
survivor. A man in the water
had one chance in 95 of sur-
viving. Thirteen percent of
wartime merchant seamen
were lost. The combined loss-
es of Navy, Army and Air
Force were 4%, Some sources
report figures of roughly one
in 10 for the M.N., and on in
35 for the uniform servic~.
Every Merchant Mariner
was in the front line. There
were no desk jobs, training
jobs, supply jobs, or adminis-
tration jobs. I’ve read that the
Navy needed 17 people
ashore to keep one at sea. A
typical shipping company had
about 10 civilians ashore to

—

feelings

keep 500 men at sea.

Radar was provided to the
Navy — the Merchant Navy
was sent through the war

blind.

Merchant Navy prisoners
of war had their pay stopped
as soon as their ships were
lost. Navy P.O.W.’s were on

constant pay.

Casualties were reported
immediately and financial help
given to their families. Up to
one year elapsed — before
Merchant Navy casualties
were reported = — no insur-
ance, of course,

By 1949 the Canadian
Government had to admit
that the peacetime Merchant
Navy could provide employ-
ment for only 3,500
of the 9,500 wartime
survivors. Neverthe-
less, successive gov-
ernments did nothing
to help re-establish
the 6,000 leftovers.
Only 1,500 of us are
alive today, and we
are going at the rate
of about one a week.

I predict that when we are
down to about 500, and in an
election year, the government
will win points by offering us
an apology and full benefits.

Mav I suggest that those
many who would dispute my
statements, and those few
who might wish to learn more
about them, should read the
publication, Running the
Gauntlet, and make use of its
bibliography. These who do
will notice that the figures I
quote are more conservative
than those officially recorded.

Ore more thing. For those
who might wonder what kind
of an idiot [ must have been at

age 18 (almost) to subject’

myself to such hardship, peril
and poverty for almost six
years, let me tell you I would
not have traded those years

Sunday, November 10, 1996 — North Shore News - 33

for all the government hand-
outs in the world.

Never did I have to carry a
gun, or wear my uniform
(except at dinner or when I
met King George VI), or
stand in line for “Up Spirits”
or to “Form Fours.”

Yet | was able to con-
tribute what I knew was
more than my share of ser-
vice to my country, 1 was
able to sail with the last of
the beautiful old steamships
and with many of the last of

the old-time seamen.

1 was able to learn tradi-
tional British, Canadian and
Newfoundland seamanship,
navigation, frugality and sto-
icism (most of it completely
useless today, I know). As a
lover of old ships and the sea,
I was able 10 be in the right
place at the rigi + time.

Lest We Forge*. Perhaps it
does apply to me after all. May
God, if none other, bless the
tattered remnants of the
wartime Merchant Navy.

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