- Type
- Commemorative Ceremony
- Date
- -
- Time
- -
- Details
The end of the Battle of the Atlantic will be marked in a ceremony Sunday, May 3 at the BC Legislature.
Battle of Atlantic Sunday commemorates the longest battle of the Second World War. Serving members and Veterans of the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force along with Merchant Navy Veterans will gather with representatives from the Naval Association of Canada at the cenotaph at the BC Legislature for an 11 a.m. service on Sunday, May 3.
The war at sea began for the Royal Canadian Navy when HMC ships Fraser and St Laurent departed the Pacific Coast on August 31, 1939, 10 days before Canada declared war on September 10. The ships arrived in Halifax on September 14 to escort the first convoys to Europe. From September 15th, the RCN provided 47% of all escorts preventing attacks for 26,000 Atlantic crossings and is credited with destroying 33 U-boats and 42 surface ships through until VE Day, May 8, 1945.
Seventy-eight thousand men and women put their lives on hold to enroll in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve for the duration of the war and join with members of the regular and reserve RCN and RCNR to create a force of 110,000. With 527 warships, the RCN was one of the largest navies in the world. The Navy gave to the Battle 1,797 dead, 319 wounded and 24 warships, most in Canadian national waters. Nineteen squadrons of the Royal Canadian Air Force flew coastal patrols and aircover. Three hundred fifty aircraft were lost and 900 aircrew died. The 12,000 member Canadian Merchant Navy lost 68 ships and 1,466 sailors.
Originally commemorated in October, Battle of Atlantic Sunday was designated by the Naval Board as the first Sunday in May in 1951 to recognize the 1943 victory over the German U-Boat Wolf Packs, thereby making the invasion of Europe on D-Day June 6, 1944, possible. In 2003, the House of Commons designated September 3 as Merchant Navy Remembrance Day. Battle of Atlantic Sunday has yet to receive such designation.
- Location
- British Columbia Legislature
- Address
- Government and Belleville Streets
- City
- Victoria, British Columbia
Contact
Gerald Pash
gwpash@shaw.ca
(250) 658-6509