Pride in Sacrifice

Heroes Remember

Pride in Sacrifice

Transcript

Interviewer: I'm just wondering, four and a half years of your life set aside. Not just you but your whole generation. When you think back on the sacrifice of those years and some who never came back, what your generation did, would you do it again? I don't know. I can't answer that with a yes or no, Rick because even when I knew that I was doing it, it was just the teenage challenge. Same as kids today with the teenage challenge. You thought it was cool to break a little simple law, by saying you were eighteen instead of fifteen. If I had of said 15, I wouldn't have been in the navy and we knew that. But after things went on, I wasn't, I didn't feel bad about it. You know, if you steal an apple sometimes, sometimes you feel bad about it. But with doing what I did, no, I was kind of glad that I advanced my age and gained that experience, of a young boy in a man's uniform, you know. So, and today I'm more proud today, than I was back then. Interviewer: Speak to me about that pride. That was my next question. Speak to me about it. Well, you're rubbing elbows alongside of a guy that... You're given...seeing what people recognize in him and you take that recognition and put it on your own lapel. Not that I was looking for glory or anything like that but, it made me feel good, to know that people thought the same about me, as they did with my friend here, and he was proper age. No, I never felt any sorrows over doing what I did. Actually, I was glad to gain the experience that I had. The only thing is, thing is so proud, it was such a great experience, where death was involved of many of, many of your friends and other friends of other people. It was kind of a disheartening and sadness was there with you, when you see a ship going down. But we got to live with that and there was a war on and that's what happens, when there's a war on. Is that you see those things happen and there's nothing that you can do about it, but carry on and make your own contribution.

Description

Mr. Doherty recalls how his pride in service changed as the war progressed, and explains how he takes more pride in it today.

Ivan Doherty

Mr. Doherty was born on May 4, 1926, in Boston, Massachusetts. His family having originally been from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, decided to return soon after his birth. His father left the family soon after moving to Charlottetown, Mr. Doherty was raised by his mother and grandparents. Soon after turning 15, Mr. Doherty and a friend of the same age, eager for excitement and to see the world, became very anxious to join the Navy. His friends father, understanding that the boys would not be deterred, convinced a recruiter to ignore their age and allow them to join on May 21, 1941. Promising his mother and grandparents to continue with his education, they did not attempt to have him discharged. As he was found to be colour-blind, Mr. Doherty was only allowed to join the Navy as a stoker below decks. After two months basic training, and an 18 month posting in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, he was drafted to the Guysborough, escorting convoys across the North Atlantic, and sweeping the French coast for mines in preparation for the D-Day invasion. In addition to serving as a stoker (Acting Petty Officer), Mr. Doherty acted as a depth charge loader in his off-duty action station. After D-Day, Mr. Doherty left the Guysborough to take a Petty Officer course, but after several delays was drafted to the American carrier, HMS Puncher as a Killick (with the same duties as Acting Petty Officer), escorting convoy ships on the Murmansk Run. Still on the HMS Puncher on VE-Day, Mr. Doherty and the rest of the crew volunteered for the Pacific battle, but it finished before any could enter. Mr. Doherty stayed on the HMS Puncher ferrying troops home across the Atlantic, until he returned home to Charlottetown in September 1945.

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