D-Day Corvette, HMCS Kitchener (3)

In 1944 HMCS Kitchener, Corvette K225, found herself in Plymouth Harbour during the buildup to D-Day. Able Seaman Bill Cameron and his shipmates were disappointed to hear they'd be escorting two former French battleships, now loaded with concrete, to the French coast, where they'd be scuttled to form artificial harbours. Well away from the action. But captain and crew wanted to support the landings, which they figured were coming soon, even though they had been told casualties could be as high as 25%. Kitchener's captain, Jack Mole, wasn't putting up with that.

 He went aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta, close to them in Plymouth. Augusta carried none other than General Omar Bradley, commander of the 1st US Army. Orders were changed, and Kitchener was reassigned. She escorted Augusta in the second flotilla to Omaha Beach, as part of the anti-aicraft and antisubmarine escort, in the thick of the action. En route, Bill and every other man on board received a note from the supreme Allied commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Pictured here, it exhorts the troops: "The tide has turned! ...We will accept nothing less than full Victory!"
Earlier posts of February 23 and March 11 also dealt with Bill Cameron and Kitchener.

The Battle of Moreuil Wood, 97 Years Ago

March 30th, 1918, was a dreary day in Picardy, France. The Canadian Cavalry Brigade was mounted and on the move, having bivouacked at Guyencourt. They crossed the Noye River, and at a high point of land were directed to Moreuil Wood, across the River Avre, via Castel. Brigadier J E B Seely had led the way, setting up a command post at the northwestern corner of the Wood while under fire.

Men and horses were hungry and tired after nine days of running battles. The Royal Canadian Dragoons led the way from here down to Castel and up the opposite ridge to Moreuil Wood, visible on the horizon in the photo at right. 

This is Castel in 2008, 90 years after the Brigade--Dragoons, Lord Strathcona's Horse (RC), and Fort Garry Horse--made their way down this road and over the bridge in the background. 

On the right is the the famous painting by Alfred Munnings who was in France, having been commissioned to paint the Canadian cavalry in action. He didn't witness the battle, but Lord Strathcona's Horse obligingly restaged it for him later. Sergeant Tom Mackay, my father, related his version of the battle, which is covered in my novel "Soldier of the Horse".

D-Day Corvette, HMCS Kitchener (2)

A couple of weeks ago I posted about HMCS Kitchener, K225. Here she is on the left, looking somewhat battered as I'm sure all the RN and RCN corvettes did after a couple of Atlantic crossings.




Kitchener starred  in the 1943 movie "Corvette K-225", with Randolph Scott playing her captain. That time, at least, Hollywood resisted the impulse to Americanize the movie, with Scott portraying a Canadian Lieutenant-commander.

That wasn't her main claim to fame, however. Her performance on D-Day rates more space than is available here, and details will follow. Many thanks to Bill Cameron for the photo above. On the right is Able Seaman Bill Cameron, as he then was. For more about Kitchener and AB Cameron, see my post of February 23rd.

A Tour of a Cold War O-Boat (6th of 6)

 Here is a shot taken in 2012. The former HMCS Ojibwa is about to give birth to the Elgin Military Museum's submarine exhibit at Port Burwell on the north shore of Lake Erie--by making her way to her final (I can't help myself) berth.
(photo credit Phyllis Hinz) 

And here's how Ojibwa looked in 2013, when the able and welcoming staff in Port Burwell were working their magic, preparing the cold warrior for her public debut.

Port Burwell and Ojibwa are well worth a visit, for submariners and civilians alike.


And for a "gripping adventure in the grand trradition of sea sagas" (Ian Weir), beg, borrow or steal a copy of "Terror on the Alert".

A Tour of a Cold War O-Boat (5)

 Continuing our tour aft on board HMCS Ojibwa, we have passed through the accommodation space with its assorted messes and berths. The photo to the left is part of the starboard side of the control room, featuring the chart table, a prominent red light bulb, various communication outlets, a clock, etc.

And to the right is an image of part of the port side of the control room under red lighting conditions.
The red lighting is switched on at dusk and off at dawn, even when running at great depth, in case it is necessary to surface in a hurry. Also, if at periscope depth, it allows the periscope watchkeeper's eyes to be adjusted for night vision.

Not shown in either photo are the periscopes, which are on the centre-line of the boat, with the attack (monocular) periscope forward of the search periscope, which is binocular.

D-Day Corvette, HMCS Kitchener

The picture at left is of Bill Cameron, posing with "Terror on the Alert" at the White Rock Library on February 15th this year. The occasion was a Sunday afternoon presentation by 6 local writers.

The Friends of the Library showed up with refreshments, and had done a wonderful job of organizing the writer/presenters, never an easy thing to manage.

I was excited to meet Bill, who served in HMCS Kitchener, which as far as Bill knows was the only corvette actually in the immediate area of the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6th, 1944. Bill was an Able Seaman manning an anti-aircraft Oerlikon for what seemed like days straight.

More about Bill, and HMCS Kitchener, in the near future.

A Great War Trooper's Last Ride

A short time ago I posted a photo of my father, Tom Mackay, when he was training in Winnipeg before joining his regiment, Lord Strathcona's Horse (RC), in France. (See 22 January 2015 )

Tom's legs were badly shot up when he rode with Gordon Flowerdew at Moreuil Wood in 1918. He was then a sergeant, Acting Troop Leader of 1st Troop, and was right behind Flowerdew as they made their desperate charge.

I don't remember ever seeing Dad ride, because he constantly suffered leg pain; but I recently came across this photo, taken in c 1963. Dad was motoring across the Chilcotin from Williams Lake westward, when he came across a herd of cattle being driven by three first nations cowboys. He persuaded one of them to drive his car on to their next stop, and he mounted the man's horse and took part in the drive. The dismounted man, now a motorist, took this photo of the three men. Dad is in the middle. He died in 1969, a trooper--and a cowboy--at heart.