With each passing year, the ranks of surviving WWII veterans
continue to dwindle. My father is one of
those veterans, now in his 89th year.
When I was growing up, he rarely spoke of his experiences in the war. It is hard to say why, but I suspect the
ongoing pressures of a career and raising a family were simply more important
than taking the time to talk about the war.
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R.M. Bailey's Navy Scrapbook |
And today, suffering from dementia, it is difficult for him to recount
his wartime memories, that chapter of his life now locked away from the rest of
the world in an aging mind. Fortunately
several years back I recovered Dad’s navy scrapbook. It provides a significant glimpse into this
period of his life and tells the story of a crew of young men and their ship,
all of who played such an important role in making possible what we enjoy
today.
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Navy Telegraphist Ron Bailey |
My dad, Ron Bailey, joined the Royal Canadian Navy at
H.M.C.S. Unicorn (Saskatoon)
on April 19, 1943, two days before his 19th birthday. They called these young men Prairie
Schooners, most of them having never even seen an ocean. After enlisting, he was first posted to
H.M.C.S. York (Toronto) and then to H.M.C.S.
Cornwallis (Digby, N.S.) for training. After Cornwallis, he was sent to H.M.C. Signal
School in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec
where he qualified as a telegraphist.
With his training complete, he was then sent overseas on the S.S. Nieuw
Amsterdam sailing from Halifax for Greenoch, Scotland.
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S.S. Nieuw Amsterdam |
The Nieuw Amsterdam was a large ocean liner
that had been converted for troop service.
In this configuration, what was once the luxurious first class dining
room was completely filled with bunks stacked three high to accommodate the
young men going to war. Many would not
return. During the war years, the Nieuw
Amsterdam transported 378,631 troops, sailing some 530,452 miles. She survived the war unscathed and
subsequently plied the oceans of the world for Holland America Line well into
the 1970's.
From Greenoch, Dad was posted to H.M.S. Ferret in Londonderry where he was drafted to serve on the H.M.C.S
Matane. The Matane was a River Class
frigate, built by Canadian Vickers Ltd. in Montreal, Quebec. She was launched on May 29th, 1943
and commissioned on Oct. 22, 1943, her pendant being K444.
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HMCS Matane - K444 |
In April of 1944 she joined escort group EG9
as the Senior Officer’s ship and served mainly on escort and patrol duty in
U.K. waters. On July 20th,
1944 the Matane was hit by a German bomb off Brest in the Bay of Biscay and
was badly damaged.
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K444 under repair - Dunnstaffnage |
Three crew members were
killed and several others injured. After
eight months of repair in Dunnstaffnage, Scotland the Matane was again ready
for action in early 1945. It was at this
point that my Dad joined the crew of at least 140 other crewmen in Londonderry.
Arguably the most significant event in the life of the
H.M.C.S. Matane is well detailed in my Dad’s scrapbook through pictures,
officer's reports, and naval messages.
On May 13th, 1945 she set sail from Greenoch,
Scotland to escort convoy
JW67 to Murmansk, Russia. On May 16th Coastal Command
received a message from the Norwegian destroyer Stord stating “Have met German
convoy steering 230 degrees speed 10 knots in Vestfjord consisting of 16
U-boats and 5 merchant ships. They say
they are routed Narvik to Trondheim. Is this in order?” Shortly thereafter, a message was received
from Admiralty, “Captain (D)17th is to detach one escort group
forthwith to intercept convoy of 16 German U-boats and 5 merchant ships
reported in Vestfjord. U-boats are to be
escorted to Loch Eribol and merchant ships to be directed to Trondheim.”
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Intercepting German U-Boats |
EG9, including the Matane were split away from convoy JW67 and sent to
intercept the subs. Though hostilities
in Europe had ended just days before, it was
unclear what reaction the German U-boats would have to being intercepted. As it turned out, there were 15 U-boats and
five merchant ships.
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The Aviso Grille |
Two of the merchant
ships were quite notable, one being the Aviso Grille, Hitler’s one time
personal yacht, and another being the Stella Polaris, a luxury Norwegian cruise
ship that had been seized by the Germans in 1940. The Germans surrendered peacefully.
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Captain of the Matane Boards U-boat |
Boarding parties were arranged and surrender
terms were dictated to the German crews.
The Senior German Officer of the convoy was Captain Suhren (Iron Cross
and Oak Leaf 39) who on request stated that he was Senior Officer Arctic and
Barents Sea and that this was the last of his command. Under orders of the German High Command he
was withdrawing his Command from Narvik and proceeding to
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Communicating Surrender Terms |
Trondheim.
The Canadian boarding officer from the Matane asked if the Senior German
Officer had read and understood the terms of surrender and if his U-boat
commanders also understood these terms.
Captain Suhren stated that all ammunition had been landed, no mines were
carried, pistols were removed from all torpedoes and that Commanding Officers
of the U-boats would comply with the terms of surrender. He was then ordered to inform his U-boat
commanders that if any attempted to scuttle or submerge, the boat would be
destroyed and no mercy would be shown to the crew. Captain Suhren was granted one last
request. He sent a final message to all
of the U-boat commanders, “Farewell my U-boats, we have worked well together,
don’t be downhearted. Goodbye. Suhren.”
Although fraternization between the German and Canadian
crews was strictly forbidden, it appears that socializing took place with the
seaman from the two countries trading money and badges. I suppose that it won't blemish my dad's navy
record to now admit that he took part in this fraternization. His scrapbook contains German bills that he
received in trade for Canadian paraphernalia.
It would be interesting to know if any of these bills have any value
today.
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R.M. Bailey checks the depth charges - HMCS Matane |
EG9 and the Matane successfully escorted the German U-boats
through very rough seas to Scotland. It
was a 36 hour passage. Though the war in
Europe was over, this was not to be the Matane’s last duty. Her final engagements were escorting convoys
between the U.K and Gibraltar. Navy authorities considered that all U-boats
were not accounted for and there could still be U-boats turned rogue on the
prowl. Thus convoys continued to be used
after hostilities had ended. In a
recollection of the final engagements of the Matane, an officer from the ship
wrote:
“The next day I received a general message from the Admiral
stating that all available officers and men had to be on the jetty at 1400h to
be marched ashore. This was a mystery;
however, we did as we were ordered and mustered on the jetty at the appointed
time, leaving only a skeleton crew aboard.
At 1400h sharp a Chief Petty Officer from the Royal Navy met us and
informed me we had to march to the local theatre and he would show us the
way. After questioning him it was
obvious he knew as much as I – nothing.
When we were seated in the theatre with the other ship’s companies the
Admiral appeared on the stage and informed us he had just received uncensored
films from the German concentration camps.
He felt that there were horrible sights, but assured us we had a right
to see them to give us a better understanding of what we had been fighting for. He was right, they were horrible. On the way back to the ship the men were
silent, and even today, 40 years later, I still get vivid flashbacks of those
scenes. I don’t regret seeing it, as I
felt some of the younger men hadn’t a clue what we had been fighting against. Some time later, one of the seamen said he
“didn’t understand it, as those guys on the subs seemed like decent
fellows”. I didn’t attempt to enlighten
him as I knew I would get out of my depth.
However, it is my understanding that not one seagoing German seaman was
ever tried for war crimes.”
My Dad was part of the Matane's crew at that point in
time. He has never spoken of seeing the
film.
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HMCS Matane at Sea |
On June 17th, 1945 the Matane sailed from
Greenoch escorting another convoy bound for Gibraltar. Just south of Ireland
the ship received a signal detaching the Matane from the convey and ordering
her to Esquimalt, B.C., likely in anticipation of the ship being required for
the war with Japan. In early July, after sailing through the
Panama Canal and a five day stop in San Diego, California, the Matane arrived
in Esquimalt. Over 40% of her crew had
volunteered for Pacific action, but it was not to be. Two nuclear bombs sealed the fate of the
Japanese and the war was over on August 15th, 1945. Dad was discharged from the navy on November
19th, 1945. He went on to a
successful career, raised a family, and has lived a rich and rewarding
life. When I look at Dad, the men and
women of his age, and what they have accomplished and left behind, I truly feel
that they have earned the title of “the greatest generation”.
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Matane's Hull in Oyster Bay - Circa 1950's |
As for the Matane, she was paid off into reserve in Esquimalt on February 11th, 1946. She was sold in 1947 and her hull was
ingloriously sunk in 1948 to form a breakwater in Oyster
Bay, B.C. She acted as a
breakwater until 1973
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Remnant's of HMCS Matane today - F. Hansen Photo |
when she was deemed either an eye sore or
navigational hazard and blown to smithereens. Despite this final insult, a picture that I
found on the web reveals that there are still remnants of the Matane that can
be seen at low tide in Oyster Bay. I intend to take my son there next summer, to
see if we can salvage even a small piece of scrap iron to keep with my Dad’s
scrapbook. If we are successful it will
act as a lasting reminder of a fine ship and her proud crew, and a significant
chapter in Canadian history.
Lest we forget.
More Pictures from R.M. Bailey's Navy Scrapbook
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1944 Telegraphers Graduating Class - St. Hyacinthe, QC |
Evolutions - Tobermory, Scotland
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Evolutions - Tobermory, Scotland |
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HMS Widemouth Bay passing Matane a depth charge |
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HMS Widemouth Bay |
HMCS Matane - Crew members
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Erffie - The ship's mascot |
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Ron Young with Erffie |
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Yoeman Gene Toban with Erffie |
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Roland Pettis and Junior Travers |
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Red Yuill and Larry Fergusen |
Intercepting German U-Boats off Coast of Norway
Convoy to Gilbraltar
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HMCS Matane |
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Monarch of Bermuda |
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A rough sea from the quarterdeck of HMCS Matane - Bay of Biscay |
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Gilbraltar Harbour |
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HMCS Matane - Final Resting Place, Oyster Bay, B.C.
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Matane's Hull in Oyster Bay, Circa 1960's |
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Matane's Hull in Oyster Bay today - F. Hansen Photo |