大象传媒

This story is taken from an interview with Gordon Wright, and has been added to the site with their permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interview was by Deirdre Donnelly, and transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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Gordon Wright is from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He was in the Royal Canadian Navy during the war. He did the 鈥楴ewfie-Derry鈥� run many times and remembers the city and the Atlantic crossings well 鈥� he returned to Derry in May 2004 for the 60th anniversary celebrations.

Before I was of age to join, I was with the Calgary tanks in the Reserve in Alberta. After a few summers slogging in the mud, I though 鈥淭he Navy must be a better place鈥�. So I joined the navy.
I enjoyed the navy, it was a good life.
And then I went to Squaymalt in British Columbia and trained as a seaman.
I wasn鈥檛 getting a ship so I transferred over to communications and ended up as a coder. During my time at sea I was always with the depth charge crew, because I was a trained seaman. So I enjoyed that.

Canadians were all volunteers. We didn鈥檛 have conscription until very late in the war, but I think we were all gung ho鈥檇 to get going. We were all young and adventurous.

[Can you remember the first time you reached Derry?]
It was very interesting. Because we had come, we left Halifax and we were on our way over here and we encountered a merchant ship on fire, and we went to help them. And the subs were after us. So we got a sinking very very quickly.

Then we came in here, and there was something very very nice, to come into Londonderry. It was always a favourite of mine. The people were nice, and the facilities were good, and it was a pleasure to get out of the storms to get a bit of peace and quiet.

I was on the Swansee. The ship I was on, we had 6 frigates in our group. And our job was looking for subs. We were one of those Hunter-killer groups, a striking force group. We were only in port for 4 days, we were at sea 4-6 weeks. We were always just 4 days. Sometimes you鈥檇 be once on duty, every 3 days you鈥檙e on duty, you don鈥檛 go ashore. That aside we didn鈥檛 get much time. But I think the main thing we did really was walk when we got ashore. Because you don鈥檛 get much exercise on the ships. It was kind of nice.
We visited the pubs, of course. There was, just outside the jetties there was Cassidy鈥檚 pub. Which was a favourite watering-hole for a while. But we used to go to the different services鈥� clubs. Royal Canadian Navy, the Methodist Church, and there used to be some functions in the Guildhall, some dances. That鈥檚 where I saw the 鈥� they used to have dances there. The Irish step-dances ... Irish Dancing. That鈥檚 sure come back in the last few years.
We used to do an awful lot of walking. We used to like to walk to the diamond, up through there.
That鈥檚 about the only sight I remember along the way, up by the Diamond. Everything鈥檚 changed so much.

We were mainly looking for subs, so that was our pleasure 鈥� to get a contact! If you were a convoy it was a whole different thing, because you had a lot of protection to do, and sometimes you just depth-charge and keep them under the surface until the convoy got away. With the Striking Force, we could stay with them. Like U448 that we sunk, I think it took about 6 hours to bring them up. Because I we had been with a convoy we wouldn鈥檛 have been able to spend that time. But out of the 4 subs that Swansee was in on sinking, we took survivors off 2. The other 2 there were no survivors. Even though they were our enemy, you still had quite an empathy for them. You鈥檇 thing 鈥淕ee, I might be next鈥�.
We got used to all this, life like that. I was from Alberta, very calm and quiet and 鈥o it was a different life altogether. But I guess you can say it was enjoyable, the experience.

[Derry people talk about the Americans, but there were much more Canadians here]
Oh I think so, yes.
There were [fights], but I wasn鈥檛 in on those. I minded my own business. I don鈥檛 think they ever bothered me. But I think the trouble was, the Americans. If you were in the same port as the Americans, they had so much more money than us, and I think the merchants put the prices up. In fact we were all rich, but we didn鈥檛 have the money the Americans had. I think that was the main resentment in the case of the Americans.

[The ships stopped at Moville before getting to Derry]
That was our refuelling place there. And the enjoyable part about that was when the people came over in the small boats from Southern Ireland, and they peddled everything. We probably gathered up things from the ship that we shouldn鈥檛 have, and traded them. We had all kinds of goods. That was quite an experience, meeting them.

We used to go down to Strabane and over the border there. The one stipulation, we had to take our hats off. I don鈥檛 know what the rule was, but we were over there and if we didn鈥檛 have our hats on 鈥� I think they enjoyed us going down and spending a little bit of money there.

Our main area was south, down in the Bay of Biscay. And of course we were destined for the Normandy Campaign, Op Neptune, which was about 4-6 weeks before D-Day. That was to clear the channel of enemy shipping. There were well over 200 enemy vessels in that area at the time, and the Op I was on we had 24 groups of 6 ships each. Strung across the channel on the western side, from Cap-du-la-Haig on Cherbourg over to the British side. We blockaded them, the channel ports. Right from St Mallory and the Channel islands right down to the Jennes river estuary in Bordeaux.
We were shelled a lot of times, but I guess we could out-manoeuvre them. But we did have injuries from the shrapnel that was more accurate than the shell.

When we were in Derry, I was in Communications, but [Joint HQ, now Magee College] was probably where we went.
They would use mock attacks for new methods, like 鈥� we adopted the creeping attack, where the ships would be very slow, and were directed in by other ships with the ASDIC. We used to practise that manoeuvre. The wrens would 鈥� we would be on a bind. Like on a ship鈥檚 bridge, but we couldn鈥檛 see what was going on. We sort of went to school and learnt a few things that way.

[The Canadian Club is gone now. What was it like? Did it feel Canadian?]
Yes, but it had the Irish flavour to it. It was kinda nice, because we were all young boys, but we kind a missed the comfort, our mothers and sisters, whereas in the Navy you don鈥檛 get that. Sop it鈥檚 kind of nice to come and talk to some local residents. It was a little bit of home, the way we saw it.

You could play cards, and they had books, and I think you could get a coffee or sandwich or tea or something which was kinda nice.

I met a very nice lady, Noreen. She took me a few times to the functions, the Guildhall or something like that. She took me down, she was from Artygartin. Near Strabane. It was very nice. We went down one time, she had bacon and eggs, and I hadn鈥檛 tasted that for years. So that was kind of nice. And the one I always remember, being in Communications we used to have to man the telephones to keep communication. And there was a Wren who, every time I was in, she seemed to be on. We were always going to be together, but I never ever met her. I would look forward to talking to her. She鈥檇 be on duty, and I鈥檇 be on duty, we鈥檇 probably leave before, we always intended to but we never did.
I don鈥檛 remember her first name. She was Miss Aggio. I think she was from Derry, actually.

I always had pleasant memories of Derry, but it never came that I could come back here until 鈥� Although I toured Ireland a couple of times.
It was just like coming home again. When you have pleasant memories of somewhere 鈥�

[Did you have many friends killed in the war?]
I lost a few in the Navy, but so many of my schoolmates were killed in the Army and Air Force, so 鈥� You never forget those friendships when you are young boys.

[Some ships came to Derry badly damaged]
Not only small ships, which are like a cork. If you run into a storm, you have to hang on, and if you don鈥檛 you鈥檒l get bounced around. With the weather, I don鈥檛 think we ever came in without bruises or something like that. I think the worst time I ever had, we were heading back into Halifax one time, we ran into a terrific storm. Like The Perfect Storm, the movie. And I was in the forward Mess deck, and one wave came over and just tore the plates right off. We were in there in the cold Atlantic water, and we were locked in there for a while. But we got out of there. You got banged up when you were in the North Atlantic storms.

[Some people say it was the hardest battle of the war]
It was certainly the longest one, anyway. Although I didn鈥檛 go all through it. I think a lot of our fellows did. I wasn鈥檛 on the corvettes, but they had a really hard life. They were a lot smaller than the frigates that I was on, and they really too a beating on those.

This is a reply to the toast of the Veterans of the Atlantic, that I gave at Friday April 29th [2005], for the Battle of the Atlantic.

Once again, we鈥檙e here to celebrate and reminisce about the Battle of the Atlantic. This year is a special celebration as it marks the 60th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic, which was the longest battle of WW2. From Sept 3rd 1939 to when the last of the German U-Boats surrendered after VE Day in 1945, the Allied Navies and AFs could not for a moment relax their efforts to protect the vital supply lines across the Atlantic. Ships of the convoys, and their escorts, sailed regardless of the bitter cold, raging storms and the peril of Submarines. The elements of storms, bitter cold, fog, packed ice and the darkness of the North Atlantic nights were often as dangerous and as vicious as the enemy action. In 1939, Canada had only a few ships to offer as escorts for the convoys. Thus, with insufficient protection the convoys suffered heavy losses in the early years of the war. Up until 1943 the U-Boats enjoyed 鈥淭he Happy Time鈥�, in their words. However, by mid-1943 the tide changed and the Allied forces got the upper hand.
Now, if you look back on the sinkings [of U-Boats] from 1939-42, which was a few months in 39, then 40, 41, 42 鈥� there were 162 sinkings. Now, after 1942 鈥� through 1943, 44 and a few months of 45 鈥� there were 631 sunk. Which is 4 times the number. So you can see how we got the upper hand.
After viewing these figures, it is evident that the Allied navies and Air Forces and the tech advances in equipment contributed to the Allies gaining the upper hand in superiority in the U-Boat war in the Atlantic. To fully understand the importance of the Battle of the Atlantic, I will quote from several sources.

Remarks made by Winston Churchill 鈥� 鈥渢he Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all during the war. Never for a moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere 鈥� on land, sea and in the air 鈥� depended ultimately on the outcome of the Battle of the Atlantic.鈥�
He further stated 鈥渢he only thing that really frightened me during the war was the U-Boat Peril.鈥�

It was a long and bitter battle. Probably the best way to describe the Battle of the Atlantic was stated by Frank Currie, who was in the Royal Canadian Navy. He wrote the following on a Corvette in the Atlantic.
鈥淲hat a miserable, rotten, hopeless life. And Atlantic Sea life. It seems impossible that we can continue to take this unending pounding and still remain in one piece. Hanging onto a convoy is a fulltime job. The crew in almost a stupor from the nightmarishness of it all. And still we go on. Hour after hour.鈥�

Many of the veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic are with us here. They sailed with the Atlantic convoys, mid-ocean escorts, and in triangle runs. They sailed in every type of ship. Some served in other theatres than the Atlantic. Some are survivors when their ships were sunk. Some served in Operation Neptune and Overlord, the Normandy campaign. Some served in the merchant Navy. One sailed across the Atlantic 42 times with convoys. One member was a crew member of a ship that sank 4 U-Boats. Some sailed on that torturous Murmansk run. Some in MTB flotillas. They sailed whenever and wherever required. Regardless of the dangers they encountered.

[What was the composition of the RCN?]
I鈥檓 from the prairies. Calgary, originally. I don鈥檛 think I鈥檇 ever seen the ocean before I went to Vancouver. But the navy, I always kinda had a linking. My brother and I, my mother often wondered why we鈥檇 joined the Navy. And I think the reason was, we always used to sing 鈥淏ritannia rules the waves鈥�. Britons, you know? That always stuck in our minds, so it was sort of natural to join the Navy. But I think we really did make good sailors. I鈥檓 not bragging, but we knew nothing about the sea. And the Navy got us and they trained us their way. The people from the coast that had some experience, they thought they had their way. But I think we were used to long hours. Most of us had worked on threshing crews, and that. So we were used to long days and hard work. The only thing was, quite a shock when we got out to sea and found out how rough it was. But we withstood it.

It鈥檚 quite interesting. We have quite a Naval group. We have a Naval co-ordinating group. We combine all the groups - the Naval officers, the RCNA, the WRENS, the Sea Cadets 鈥� we all get together, it鈥檚 quite interesting to all get together like that. Because we鈥檙e all navy. And we like to get the Sea Cadets, because they鈥檙e the up-and-coming group that will take our places.

[did you object to being part of the RN? Did you prefer Canadian patriotism?]
Well, no. It was interesting, because we were down off Brest in July after Normandy, we were attacked by the German planes that had these radio-controlled bombs. And they got our senior officer first thing. We withstood that. The senior officer on the Matan that got hit was Commander Laird, who was RN. And he came on and replaced our Captain, and we kinda resented that. But Commander Laird was such a fine man, we just worshipped him. Anyway, we just enjoyed that because he was Mr Navy. If he got you in somewhere he would get you out. He was very good. And he liked us and we liked him. He was about 96 when he died. And we kept in touch with him and he kept in touch with us. It was such a nice friendship. We respected him. And although he was RN, there鈥檚 nothing wrong with that. He had the experience, and we appreciated that.

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