thedrifter
05-08-06, 08:14 AM
Ceremony marks longest fight
By RICK CONRAD Staff Reporter
George Borgal didn’t realize how lucky he was when his ship, HMCS Saguenay, was torpedoed in 1940.
He had just come over from the minesweeper HMCS Bras d’Or and while he was hanging out at a boarding house waiting for the Saguenay to be repaired, he picked up a newspaper.
"The headlines said: Bras d’Or lost with all hands," Mr. Borgal recalled Sunday.
"And I was thinking (before that) if I wouldn’t have come to Saguenay I wouldn’t be in this damn mess. I felt better afterwards."
The 84-year-old Halifax resident, who retired as a chief petty officer in 1964, was one of dozens of veterans and hundreds of other military personnel, their families and others who attended ceremonies for the 63rd anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic at HMCS Scotian on the Halifax waterfront Sunday.
The longest campaign of the Second World War, the battle to maintain shipping routes linking North America and Europe lasted 2,075 days and claimed 4,234 Canadian sailors, airmen and merchant marines, 24 Royal Canadian Navy warships and more than 70 merchant ships.
Veterans, military brass and other dignitaries laid several wreaths at a small replica of the sailors memorial that is at Point Pleasant Park. At the same time, about 125 Second World War veterans along with their families and military members aboard HMCS Sackville laid a wreath in the waters off the park in memory of those who fought and died in the battle. They also committed to the sea the ashes of 16 veterans.
Later in the day, a separate ceremony honoured the contributions of the men and women of the merchant marines.
John Cooper, a member of Branch 111 of the Air Force Association of Canada and a veteran of a peacekeeping tour of duty north of Cairo, said he wanted to commemorate what the battle’s veterans did to help win the war effort.
"In a nutshell, if what was done wasn’t done, I may not be here today because it could have gone the other way and God knows what would have happened to us and it could have ended up more disastrous than what it was."
For Mr. Borgal, who attended a reunion in Esquimalt, B.C., last year during the Battle of the Atlantic weekend, it’s also a chance to "see your old friends, your old shipmates again. And of course, there’s a lot that used to be here that aren’t here now."
And while he misses his buddies, he was feeling pretty good about being one of the last ones left.
"I think it was very good to feel that way. Wouldn’t you?"
( rconrad@herald.ca)
Ellie
By RICK CONRAD Staff Reporter
George Borgal didn’t realize how lucky he was when his ship, HMCS Saguenay, was torpedoed in 1940.
He had just come over from the minesweeper HMCS Bras d’Or and while he was hanging out at a boarding house waiting for the Saguenay to be repaired, he picked up a newspaper.
"The headlines said: Bras d’Or lost with all hands," Mr. Borgal recalled Sunday.
"And I was thinking (before that) if I wouldn’t have come to Saguenay I wouldn’t be in this damn mess. I felt better afterwards."
The 84-year-old Halifax resident, who retired as a chief petty officer in 1964, was one of dozens of veterans and hundreds of other military personnel, their families and others who attended ceremonies for the 63rd anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic at HMCS Scotian on the Halifax waterfront Sunday.
The longest campaign of the Second World War, the battle to maintain shipping routes linking North America and Europe lasted 2,075 days and claimed 4,234 Canadian sailors, airmen and merchant marines, 24 Royal Canadian Navy warships and more than 70 merchant ships.
Veterans, military brass and other dignitaries laid several wreaths at a small replica of the sailors memorial that is at Point Pleasant Park. At the same time, about 125 Second World War veterans along with their families and military members aboard HMCS Sackville laid a wreath in the waters off the park in memory of those who fought and died in the battle. They also committed to the sea the ashes of 16 veterans.
Later in the day, a separate ceremony honoured the contributions of the men and women of the merchant marines.
John Cooper, a member of Branch 111 of the Air Force Association of Canada and a veteran of a peacekeeping tour of duty north of Cairo, said he wanted to commemorate what the battle’s veterans did to help win the war effort.
"In a nutshell, if what was done wasn’t done, I may not be here today because it could have gone the other way and God knows what would have happened to us and it could have ended up more disastrous than what it was."
For Mr. Borgal, who attended a reunion in Esquimalt, B.C., last year during the Battle of the Atlantic weekend, it’s also a chance to "see your old friends, your old shipmates again. And of course, there’s a lot that used to be here that aren’t here now."
And while he misses his buddies, he was feeling pretty good about being one of the last ones left.
"I think it was very good to feel that way. Wouldn’t you?"
( rconrad@herald.ca)
Ellie