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Ceremony commemorates Battle of the Atlantic |
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Written by editor
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Sunday, 03 May 2009 |
Pamela Roth
lethbridge herald
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The Atlantic ocean is a fierce landscape to do business for months on end — just ask Leo Grudniski.
The 84-year-old was just a young Prairie boy when he left his home in Western Canada to serve with the Royal Canadian Navy and was placed on a ship in the Atlantic ocean with little or no experience.
It was his first time at sea, but he doesn’t recall being scared even though there was plenty to be scared about. On any given day, 125 merchant vessels were sailing in convoy across the North Atlantic during the Second World War to make sure the goods arrived at their destination. It was during these treacherous, stormy crossings that Canada’s navy matured and won the mantle of a professional service.
Grudniski can’t help but remember the shipmates who weren’t as fortunate as himself and would taking part of the commemoration of the Battle of the Atlantic if they were here today.
“I feel fortunate. There was a great loss of life,” said Grudniski, who was one of several veterans who gathered at the City of Lethbridge cenotaph on Sunday for a remembrance ceremony of the Battle of the Atlantic. “The North Atlantic is not the place you want to sail, particularly in the winter. I remember the ice buildup on our ships. It was amazing that they didn’t top side because of the huge amount of ice.”
Each year on the first Sunday in May, Canada’s naval community commemorates those lost as sea during the Second World War.
Lasting 2,075 days, the Battle of the Atlantic was Canada’s longest campaign of the Second World War. It pitted Allied navies against German and Italian naval forces, especially submarines, in a battle to safeguard the essential flow of shipping between North America and Europe.
The Royal Canadian Navy escorted 25,343 merchant vessels across the Atlantic, which carried the equivalent of 11 lines of freight cars, each stretching from Vancouver to Halifax. Without these supplies, the war effort would have collapsed.
At the outbreak of war, the Royal Canadian Navy was comprised of only six destroyers and a handful of smaller vessels, but soon much of the burden of fighting the Battle of the Atlantic fell upon Canada.
By 1945, the Royal Canadian Navy comprised of 378 fighting ships and 95,000 uniformed men and women to become the third largest navy in the world. But it didn’t come without hardship.
More than 2,000 fatalities were reported and 24 warships were lost. In contrast, the Royal Canadian Navy destroyed or shared in the destruction of 33 U-Boats and 42 enemy surface craft, playing a pivotal and successful role in the contest for seaward supremacy.
During the darkest days of the Second World War, thousands of Canadian men and women in the Royal Canadian Navy, the Merchant Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force faced perilous conditions that many of us can only imagine.
That’s why it’s important to remember events like this, which have become a significant part of Canadian history, according to Kent Masson of the Navy League of Canada’s Lethbridge branch
“This is basically for the young people to learn the history of the country. That’s why we do it — to teach the history of our country so that maybe we can learn from our past mistakes,” said Masson. “It was a harrowing experience for all of these young men who were in the Battle of the Atlantic. We must not forget things that happen.”
Cadet Iona Kanyo agrees.
“You are honouring the soldiers that died for our freedom and died for our navy,” said the 12-year-old as she prepared to march in a parade. “It’s a time to reflect what happened.”
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