MEMORIES OF A POW - Submitted by William (Bill) Green

HMCS ATHABASKAN G07 - Bill Green had met Bill Connolly while he (Bill Green) was the Executive Director of "Friends of HMCS HAIDA" in Hamilton, Ontario.  Bill Green accompanied Bill Connolly and his wife Vi (Lolanda) into High School history classes where he spoke about Canadian Second World War stories not found in the current textbooks. It was after one such visit, outside the class, that Bill Connolly told his story to Bill Green about his experience as a POW.

Bill Connolly said that following the sinking of the ATHABASKAN the German rescuers scooped up some papers floating in the water and they were able to identify Bill and four other members of the Communication branch of the ship.

All five were questioned repeatedly first by the German Navy and later by the Gestapo in an attempt to learn/understand the Allied Naval Codes in use in April 1944 and "why are you wasting your time down here instead of up at Calais?"

All five refused to talk and after intense interrogation, Bill said that it was like a Hollywood Movie, he would sit back in his chair, blow cigarette smoke in my face and say "Look, your name is William Connolly, you are not Seaman, you are Signalman, Your wife Iolanda Connolly is living with your parents on .....St. in Hamilton Ontario!"

We want you to tell us "What are the Codes Canadian Warships are using in the Channel NOW?"

After a couple days of this, all 5 were marched outside the Interrogation room and put in front of a Firing Squad. The order was given Ready, Aim Fire! . . . And the rifles went "click" as they were not loaded.

All 5 were moved to the POW Camp for the rest of the War.

Bill Connolly also recounted to Bill Green about his time on HNoMS King Haaken VII - Bill had been a Lifeguard in Hamilton Harbour before enlisting when war was declared.  He was drafted to HNoMS King HAAKEN VII, a Norwegian warship, formerly USS PC 467. On his first trip on King Haaken VII, a Norwegian sailor was washed overboard and Bill leapt the side to rescue him.  The ship was stopped and the 2 men brought back on board ship.

Bill was taken up to the Captain cabin.  Bill said "The Captain took me into his cabin and said I can't put this in the log because we are not allowed to stop at sea on convoy duty."  Bill said, "But I wanted to save that mans life!'  The Captain said "Yes and Thank You for that, but I cant put it in the log, but here is a drink for your actions and gave me a drink of Gin!"

AIR SEA RESCUE RCN STYLE - Submitted by Gary Cook, Leading Seaman, Marine Engineer

While a member of the crew of HMCS Provider I had the chance to take a week long trip up the coast of B.C. in search of a suitable landing site for army maneuvers that fall. Capping off the trip was a scheduled port visit to the island community of Kodiak, Alaska. The ship's lines were tied fast; the gangway lowered; and those lucky enough to be off duty hurried ashore to sample the local hospitality. On board the duty watch settled into what we thought would be a long boring day soaking up the rays in the sleepy Coast Guard port.

It wasn't long into the watch when a small Cessna airplane attracted our attention as it circled overhead. We figured some locals were sightseeing with our ship being the main attraction. With little else to do we watched the plane continue its slow circling descent until, with the grace of an albatross, it ditched in the harbour right in front of us. The ship's alarm sounded and emergency parties closed up. We manned a small rescue boat and dispatched it to the scene of the accident. Our boat was followed several minutes later by one from the Coast Guard.

With swollen chests and much back slapping we looked on with pride as our work boat approached us with four survivors rescued right from under the nose of the Coast Guard. However, the celebration didn't last long, for as they climbed aboard we recognized the four soggy sightseers - junior officers from our ship's company.

REMEMBERING THE 6th SUBMARINE SQUADRON - Submitted by Michael Rowe, RN

I have just read the wonderful stories of the 6th Submarine Squadron, many years ago in the 1950s I was a squadron Writer, but typically only officers are mentioned, there were only three Writers, a CPO and two of us normal fellows!!. I spent a couple of wonderful years there, having been sent over on the Empress of Scotland and went home on a RAF Comet, so it was exciting and then Halifax itself, First Baptist Church - sang in the Choir - got engaged but it broke up - wonderful time, great friends and loved it so I eventually emigrated to Canada, still here at 90.

If anyone remembers me give a shout....

Leading Pay Writer Michael Rowe CMX909067

mjrowe342022(at)outlook.com

153 PALLETS AND 6,000 BARRELS OF EXTRA FUEL - Submitted by Steve Foldesi, Capt, RCN / C.A.F. / RANR

HMCS SKEENA - In early 1985 I sailed for England to join STANAVFORLANT. I was to return some three months later to participate in the Navy’s 75th Anniversary celebrations and after six or seven days sail again with SNFL for the Caribbean. The brief Halifax stop was to include three days at anchor in Bedford Basin for the Fleet Review, etc.

As part of our presail planning we estimated that after three months away our logistics requirements would be such that alongside time would not be sufficient to embark all the stores prior to our departure South, certainly not when you consider the work tempo of dockyard civies. The obvious solution was to get the AOR to R/V with us at sea for a heavy jackstay.

So I called on Basil Moore, CO Preserver, to present my problem. He was keen but he had his own problem - fuel was tight in those days and such a trip could not be accommodated within his allocation. It so happened that Spook Spanik, his Liquid Cargo Officer (LCO), overheard our conversation and barged into Basil’s cabin to announce that he has lots of fuel. Now any one who knows Basil would know that he ran a very tight ship, hence he was taken aback by Spook’s statement. When asked to explain, Spook told him that the last few times Preserver topped up in Halifax it was in cold weather and most RAS since have been in warm weather. Given that fuel is accounted for by volume and fuel expands with increasing ambient temperature, he had 6,000 barrels of fuel nobody knew about. Basil called on CANCOMFLT (Cmdre John Harwood), laid out his case and received his approval to sail for a mid-ocean R/V with Skeena.

As it turned out, the load was to be 153 pallets. The problem was how to get rid of one pallet at the receiving end by the quarterdeck king post before the next one arrived. We worked out a plan and asked Preserver to send the pallets across in the directed order. The XO’s human chain as an all ship evolution looked after the rest.

The entire operation took 1 hour and 20 minutes. I think this is still a record.

(as an aside Spook Spanik achieved notoriety by being the instigator of the RPC for Xaviera Hollander, the Happy Hooker, that cost the then CO, Peter Traves, his command. His main problem was that COMMARCOM at the time was no other than Fester Boyle).

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