THUNDER BAY - A solemn bell rang out across Prince Arthur’s Landing on Sunday and sea cadet chief petty officer, Joshua Grasley, knew what every toll of the bell he rang represented, and how it continues to echo through time.
“I felt like it was an important task,” he said. “It is the symbol of all those ships who were lost at sea. To toll the bell it was like I was tolling for all those people who passed. It meant a great bit to me to be able to ring that bell and represent all those who have gone before.”
The tolling of the bell at the Anchorage was part of a ceremony to commemorate the Battle of the Atlantic, one of the longest battles during the Second World War.
Every year in May, HMCS Griffon hosts the commemoration, along with members of the cadets from the naval, army, and air service, as well as veterans of the Second World War.
“Today is a good feeling amongst Second World War veterans,” said Roy Lamore, who served with the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War. “The younger cadets coming up, we have to be proud of those cadets. They can’t take war as some kind of a game. You have to be serious. The veterans realize how many shipmates they lost or in the army in the trenches. These are the ones we are thinking about.”
Lamore recognizes that the number of veterans participating in these kinds of commemorations is shrinking, but it makes him proud to see young cadets standing at attention to remember the young men and women, who were often just a few older than they are, who went off to war.
“In one way, it’s a privilege,” he said. “To see the younger cadets, it just feels good that our system is working. Our younger kids are in these services and I really like to see that. They are our future.”
This role that younger generations have to play was not lost on 17-year-old Grasley, who said part of being a cadet is showing support for veterans of past conflicts.
“It means a lot because for me to see people who aren’t that much older than I am and going to war and some of them not coming home, to spend a few hours a day, and to be here just to support them,” he said.
The Battle of the Atlantic raged in the North Atlantic from 1939 until the end of the war in 1945. Allied convoys sailed the treacherous waters and battled German U-Boats to provide England with the vital supplies needed to continue the war effort in Europe.
“It was the lifeline for the U.K. while Europe was getting gobbled up by the Germans,” said HMCS Griffon Lt.-Cmdr, Robert Cooke.
Throughout the battle, Canada emerged as one of the largest navies in the world, providing merchant vessels and the valuable protection needed to escort them across the Atlantic.
“Bit by bit the fleet grew and it went from a very small navy up to 300 ocean going ships,” Cooke said. “The convoy support grew and grew and by 1943, it turned in favour of the allies.”
But it was not without sacrifice, with members of the Royal Canadian Navy, Royal Canadian Merchant Navy, and the Royal Canadian Air Force suffering more than 4,500 loses over the course of the war.
“When you see our naval veterans, there used to be at least a 100 sitting there, but now there is only three or four, but that’s because they’ve gone beyond the horizon,” Lamore said.
And while the ceremony is meant to commemorate the sacrifices of the men and women who fought in one of the longest and most important battles of the Second World War, Lamore said it is important to remember that there is something else very important to remember when the bell tolls.
“The one word is peace,” he said. “Remember peace and keep it that way.”
