BATTLE REMEMBERED
HMCS Queen Charlotte commemorates the Battle of the Atlantic Sunday
HMCS Queen Charlotte commemorated the Battle of the Atlantic Sunday in the Cornwall Civic Centre.
The room was packed at the Cornwall Civic Centre as people took part in the Battle of the Atlantic ceremony to commemorate the sacrifices made by thousands of Canadians who fought bravely in the North Atlantic.
HMCS Queen Charlotte held the special ceremony, which included members of the Royal Canadian Army accompanied by the P.E.I. Regiment Band, local sea and navy league cadets.
A flag-raising ceremony was held where Blanche MacAleer of Stratford raised her flag to respect the memory of her late husband and two brothers who all served in World War II.
Following this, a Battle of the Atlantic parade was held at the Cornwall Civic Centre.
The Battle of the Atlantic was
the fight for supremacy in the North Atlantic during World War II that lasted 2,075 days.
It pitted Allied naval and air
forces against German and Italian submarines, ships and aircraft whose primary targets were the convoys of merchant
ships carrying vital life-sustaining cargo from North America to Europe.
During the six years of the Battle of the Atlantic, from 1939 to 1945, the Axis powers lost over 700 U-boats and 32,000 seamen.
The Allied powers lost more than 3,000 ships and 40,000 seamen.
The vast majority of the Allied losses were merchant ships and the civilian seamen and passengers who sailed them.
In total, 33 Canadian ships were lost during this time, including the HMCS Charlottetown on Sept. 11, 1942.
Each year on the first Sunday in May, Canada and its naval community commemorates those lost at sea in the longest single campaign of the second World War.
Those currently serving the Royal Canadian Nancy uphold this legacy of the Battle of the Atlantic by pledging themselves “ready, aye, ready,” to defend Canada and uphold its ideals around the world.