Memory Lane Pt 7: Family ties - better late than never

While motorcycling into Ottawa in June, just a few days after setting my father’s ashes upon the Atlantic Ocean in a hand made cedar boat called SS Silver Walnut 2, I got bogged down in thick traffic about four blocks from my hostel accommodations.

The heat was stifling. I flipped up the face guard on my motorcycle helmet, took a breath or two, and looked more closely at my surroundings.

I noticed the following:

Wall to wall cars and trucks, thick pedestrian traffic too, and a used book store on my right with piles of books on the sidewalk.


["I spotted a large book while in the middle of traffic": photos GH]

One large book caught my eye. U-BOAT WARS. Traffic eased. I moved along.


["Famous sea battles were often about about sinking freighters"]

I rode back to the book shop a day or two later, after visiting Canada’s War Museum, ready to learn more about Canada’s Merchant Marine, and found the large book I’d spied earlier and one more about famous sea battles of WWII.

Readiness to learn is a powerful force. As a young man I showed little interest in my dad’s own youth and war experience. Only in his old age, as he drew closer to his final years, did his words, deeds and concerns resonate more deeply inside my busy head.

A few lines from U-BOAT WARS make perfect sense now, whereas they never would have penetrated my own thoughts 10, 20, 30 years ago:

“It was the (German) submarine’s job to destroy enemy tonnage - as much tonnage as possible, never mind where, or whether it was carrying cargo or not. What mattered was the shipping capacity: if the “Anglo-Saxons” ran out of ships to carry freight, it would not matter how many aircraft, tanks, and projectiles they produced, or whether the Americans could grow sufficient grain to feed the British Isles. The main thing was therefore to destroy the means of transport.”

Whether or not my dad knew that the Merchant Marine was in the business of hauling tons of freight, I’ll never know. I just know he was inspired to enlist by words from another merchant marine from his home town, Norwich.

In another of his stories my dad writes:


["Dad was inspired by a few words from Skimp Smith"]

“I told Skimp (Smith) that my high school principal, the late J.C. St. John, wanted me to join the army in the Elgin Regiment. He must have forgotten how much I disliked high school cadets.”

“After further conversation I recall Skimp asking me what I wanted to do. “Join the navy,” I replied. His response was akin to, “Then go for it.”

“I would curse him later, many times, but on that day and with the urging of Skimp, the die was cast. It was to be navy blue for me.” (Merchant mariner ‘true Norwich hero,’ Norwich Gazette, March 1993)


I didn’t read of any cursing in the article that inspired this 7-part series, and for that I’m grateful. His time on Vancouver Island in 1944 was more about training soldiers, playing ball and mucking for oysters, and with the hope of swinging a bat on the same ball field as my dad I’ll head for the same island some day soon.


Yes, readiness to learn is a powerful force.

***

Memory Lane Pt 6

Memory Lane Pt 5

Memory Lane Pt 4

Memory Lane PT 3

Memory Lane PT 2

Memory Lane PT 1.

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