Across the country ceremonies were held Sunday to remember of the Battle of the Atlantic.
In London, a veteran who witnessed the devastation was on hand for the service.
“I lost a lot of friends,” says former Royal Marines member Robert Kennedy.
Kennedy, now 98, was a gun layer on HMS Naiad as the light cruiser patrolled the Mediterranean during World War II.
The Naiad was sunk on March 11, 1942. “When my ship was torpedoed and sunk on the Malta convoys, we lost 83 of the ship’s company. I often say I don’t know if I’m here.”
Every year, on the first Sunday of May, they gather at HMCS Prevost, on the banks of the Thames, to commemorate what was seen as Canada’s coming of age.
Lieutenant-Commander Jeremy Breese is Commanding Officer of HMCS Prevost, “You know they faced some of the harshest and most terrible conditions on this planet in the North Atlantic, guarding convoys to Europe to fight the Nazis during the Second World War.”
A year ago they rededicated the monument to the Battle of the Atlantic at HMCS Prevost and preparations are already underway for the ceremony in 2020 which will mark 75 years since the end of World War II.
