Strathmore Legion to recognize 80th anniversary of Battle of the Atlantic
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 10 in Strathmore will be conducting a service of remembrance, May 4, at the Legion Building, to mark the 80th anniversary of the end to the Battle of the Atlantic.
This conflict is recorded as the longest continuous battle of World War II, being for control of the North Atlantic.
Approximately 4,400 Canadian and Newfoundland seamen, merchant mariners, and air force personnel were lost providing escort to convoys formed in Halifax, St. John’s, and Sydney.
“The celebration always occurs on the first Sunday in May, which is this year on the fourth … the entire battle, of course, happened in the Atlantic Ocean, and it started at the very first day of the war at 10 o’clock at night off the northwest coast of Ireland – a German U-boat sank a passenger liner,” said Donovan Arnaud, president of the Strathmore Legion Branch 10. “It ended on the very last day of the war in 1945 when peace was declared … it was all part of a chain of supply featuring munitions, food, oil, people, and so on and so forth transported … to support the war effort.”
Arnaud explained the service will in many ways be a carbon copy of services offered every Nov. 11 for Remembrance Day, save for this one will be focused entirely on the Battle of the Atlantic.
This is a ceremony which has not previously been practiced in Strathmore. Arnaud estimated this is likely due to a lack of naval veterans residing in the local region, as well as due to few naval officers being originally from the area.
“I, being a former naval officer myself, I took the responsibility of making sure that we did in fact have a celebration. Three years ago, when I first arrived here, I had not heard of this celebration having occurred in the past,” said Arnaud. “It has been a longstanding celebration in Calgary and in many other cities in Alberta, and indeed in the prairies, because the prairies supplied a proportionately large number of people to serve in the Navy and in the merchant (fleets) during the war, which was rather strange, being so far away from the oceans.”
The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on May 4, and is likely to last approximately 20 minutes. Following this, attendees are invited to remain at the Legion to socialize. All are welcome and encouraged to come out for the ceremony to honour those who served.
Arnaud added he hopes this ceremony will become an annual local tradition, joining that of Remembrance Day activities.