Chief and POs Mess- HMCS Chatham
Left to right: Johnny Forester (Executive), Sid Norman (President),
Jack Morrison (Bar Manager), Ed Hale (Executive), Dennis OSullivan
(Secretary)
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The Wavy Navy
I remember lots of stories from the war. So many of the guys I served with are gone now and they could have told you lots too. Here’s a bit of trivia for you. Everyone always wants to know about the seven creases in our pants. Well, we would press the 7 creases in to represent the seven seas we sailed. I had served the seven seas.
On Sept. 10th 1939 when war broke out with Germany, I was living in Kimberly, BC, employed by Cominco as a Blacksmith Apprentice. On Dec. 8th 1941, Canada declared war on Japan. On Christmas Day, 1941, I visited Calgary where I applied to become a member of the RCNVR ( Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve.) But since I was a resident of BC, I was told he would have to travel back and apply in Vancouver, BC. I did and signed up with the Royal Canadian Navy on June 27th, 1942, in Vancouver. My rank was Acting Petty Officer, Blacksmith 5th class.
Prince Rupert, B.C.
After I finished my apprenticeship I worked for the government of BC. In Prince Rupert there was an old ship they were using as an oil tanker. It caught fire and burned for days and we had to go out on harbour craft and turn the hoses on it. I never had to go onboard but a lot of men did. It was a frightening thing for them.
One of the biggest jobs I had in Rupert was getting the harbour craft HMCS Marysville loose – she had been grounded on a reef. Now that took some doing!
We had a couple of mascots in Rupert. First we had Old Stoker, a half paralysed dog. Perhaps he had been hit by a car. He had multi brown colouring like a police dog, had stick up ears and looked kind of like a long -haired collie. Anyways, Stanley took him under his wing and brought him around to a pretty active life. Stanley was an elderly Chief Stoker, an ex-RN man, and a great old fella. The dog never left our building in the dockyard, and he slept right beside the boiler room where it was nice and warm. We brought him food from the Mess and the cook always made sure to send him down treats. As far as I can remember he was there the whole war.
And then there was Old Grouch. He flew in one day and never left. He was a battered up old sea gull and he literally moved in. He never missed a meal. Everybody fed him. He’d hope right up to you in the shop at HMCS Chatham which was of course right on the dock.
After Pearl Harbour in ’41, they did a lot of work in Prince Rupert, and a lot of Americans came up there. Not many Canadians seem to realize that there was a lot of activity on the West Coast and a lot of Canadians served there. History tends to place all of the emphasis on Europe.
Newfoundland and Halifax
In March of 1945, I was posted to HMCS Avalon in Newfoundland to the shop there, and from Newfoundland I was drafted to HMCS Scotian, which was the dockyards in Halifax. Our job was to get the ships back in shape where they could be written off. They would then send them to the Far East.
I was working in the dock yard and Jeannie was working in Halifax as well. We were living at her mother’s house. Jeannie, who was with the WRCNS had been drafted December of ’44 to Stadacona.
I had met Jean in July of '44 on a blind date in Prince Rupert. Sid White and Lucy Cox introduced us. Well, to make it short, the highway was the only way out of town and ran for about 18 miles, and Jeannie and I went for a moonlight ride in the rumble seat of Sids car that night. Been together ever since. We still laugh about that night.
We were married during the war in 1945 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at St. Matthews United Church, when I was on leave. I was attached to Avalon at the time. I stayed at Avalon but Jeannie was posted away!! Not much time together, thats for sure.
HMCS Avalon was the best place I ever worked.
On VE Day a U190 sub came right into our dockyard at St. John’s. The rest of the six subs stayed out in the harbour. But that U190 came right into Avalon and tied up right beside our shop on the docks. All the German’s had gotten off at the Bay of Bulls and it was manned by a Canadian crew. Oh they had such fun bringing it in and were grinning ear to ear.
Now the Germans had snorkels on their subs. The Canadian guys bringing her in had somehow gotten the snorkel jammed, so didn’t they come in at “half snorkel”. Gave everyone a good laugh! The only worry I had on VE Day was that I heard about the riots that had broken out in Halifax on VE Day, and there was no way I could contact Jeannie to see if she was ok. I had to wait til later to find out that she had not been injured during the rioting.
Another time I remember about St. Johns was when there had been a huge iceberg that had grounded at the mouth of the harbour, blocking it. No ships could get in or out. Everyone was shooting at it from inside and from outside the harbour trying to blast it loose. I don’t remember how long it took. We just woke up one morning and there it was! The iceberg was out at our Boom Defence, which was a huge net stretched across the harbour mouth. They had one of these across the harbour in Prince Rupert too. These big nets were constructed by laying them out on the city streets. They were made of one inch steel cable.
Anyways, they could pull this net away to let our ships in. Because they were made of such heavy steel cable, it took a barge to pull them in and out. I worked on some of these Boom Defence nets, doing what repairs were necessary. I never had to take anything out of the nets like mines or anything, thank goodness.
On VJ Day, August 15, 1945, I was stationed in St. John’s at HMCS Avalon, and I was aboard the Naval frigate HMCS Hallowell, on route to Halifax.
On November 2, 1945 I was drafted to HMCS Cornwallis on discharge routine. After that I was drafted to Tecumseh in Calgary on Sept 11, 1945, and from there was I was discharged November 30, 1945. My rank was Chief Petty Officer (CPO), Blacksmith 3rd Class.
 Jack's Naval Record, Page 1 |
 Jack's Naval Record, Page 2 |
Jeannie and I moved to Kimberly, BC after the war and we've been there ever since.
Jeannie and Jack at home in Kimberly, B.C., 2005
