THUNDER BAY - Before he was even 20-years-old, Elmer Auld was taking part in one of the longest and most important battles of the Second World War, where he faced down two very different, but very formidable enemies.
“If you want a real miserable life, trying being on a corvette in the Second World War,” Auld said. “We had two enemies, it was the subs and the ocean. It was just a terrible, rotten, miserable life. We are a lucky bunch to be here after all these years.”
Auld was one of several Second World War veterans commemorating the Battle of the Atlantic in a ceremony on Sunday at the HMCS Griffon.
The commemoration takes place on the first Sunday of May every year in ceremonies across the country.
The Battle of the Atlantic raged in the North Atlantic from 1939 to the end of the war in 1945, as young sailors braved the treacherous waters to supply the allied powers with vital supplies while fighting against the dreaded U-boats.
“It dawned on me more when I got out of the service what we did when we were in the service,” said Ken MacKay, a petty officer with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. “I never realized what we were doing was so important until after the war was over.”
MacKay enlisted when he was 20-years-old and served on the HMCS St. Thomas. In December 1944, the corvette engaged U-877 northwest of the Azores. The U-boat was badly damaged and sunk after its crew escaped.
“We saved every one of the crew,” MacKay recalled. “My chum and I still correspond with the son of one of the men we saved in Germany.”
“They still thank us,” MacKay continued. “They sent me a postcard. The crew that we saved, they used to get together annually to celebrate the fact that they were all saved. In 1985 there were about two thirds of them still alive.”
For HMCS Griffon Lt. Commander Robert Cooke, commemorating the Battle of the Atlantic not only helps keep stories like MacKay’s alive, it also honours the sacrifice of the many young sailors who never made it back to shore.
“The idea is that we keep the memory alive and the sacrifices that were made during the Second World War,” he said. “My dad and my uncle were both veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic. I have a lot of those stories from them. I always think of my dad and my uncle.”
Cooke added that the longest battle of the war was also one of the most important, helping the allied powers survive the onslaught of the Nazi war machine, leading to the eventual invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe and the end of the war.
“The Battle of the Atlantic wasn’t just some small battle, it was an enormous battle,” he said. “It lasted from 1939 right to 1945. The Canadian Navy expanded to over 110,000 men and women during those years and by the end of it we were the third largest navy in the world.”
And Thunder Bay played a big role in the victory, with the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company supplying minesweepers and corvettes to the Royal Canadian Navy and more than 2,200 sailors enlisted through the area.
At the age of 17, Auld was one of the many to enlist and brave the perilous waters in a minesweeper.
“You realize what you’re in for, that’s for sure,” Auld said. “It’s a pretty scary operation when you’re only a kid of 18, 19, or 20-years-old.”
For both Auld and MacKay, now in their 90s, seeing the many young naval, air, and army cadets participating in the commemoration of the Battle of the Atlantic every year is always very meaningful.
“It’s wonderful to have people recognize you,” MacKay said. “I sometimes have people on the street come and speak to me and they appreciate what we’ve done.”
“It’s wonderful seeing all those kids like that,” Auld added. “It’s wonderful to see they are still carrying it on. We are a lucky bunch.”
