Lest We Forget - Remembrance Day in Canada

It is Remembrance Day in Canada. At 11:11AM, everyone pauses for a minute to remember those who have been lost in the war (As well as those that have suffered physically and mentally due to it).

My Great Uncle was killed in World War II. He was on a passenger ferry travelling between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Every year in his hometown, banners are hung showing the faces of members of the community that have fallen in the wars. This is his banner.

What stuck me about about my Great Uncle's death was that he was on Canadian waters. I had never heard that the German U-Boats had planted themselves in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A strategic location that prevented shipments from most of the East Coast of Canada over to Europe. This was known as the Battle of the St. Lawrence.

At approx 3AM on October 14, 1942, the German U Boat U-69 sunk the SS Caribou while it was crossing from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. On board were 73 civilians, including 11 children, and 118 military personnel, plus a crew of 46. 100 of the 237 people survived the attack.

I could only imagine the surprise that my Great Grandmother must have felt when she was told that her brother had been killed. In her mind, he had never been deployed to the war. He was still on the East Coast of Canada.

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Among the crosses row on row...Lest we forget...NEVER AGAIN. XOXO

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References

http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/caribou-sinking.php

http://www.heritage.nf.ca/browser/subject/SS%20Caribou

http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/caribou-sinking-lundrigan.php

http://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/politics/caribou-sinking-strickland.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Caribou

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/nf.general/1E5tBrQLfP0

http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/books/page?page=77&book=2&sort=pageAsc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_St._Lawrence

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One piece of information I found interesting is that Hitler had ordered the navy NOT to attack any vessels in US or Canadian water. That order was cancelled immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor.