This is a modified reprint of one of my first posts on this blog.
I wanted to start a blog about the First and the Second World Wars in 2014…
I was always appalled by the lost of lives in those wars. Something happened that changed my mind in the summer of 2009.
My wife’s uncle said in a family reunion we had that he was aboard HMCS Athabaskan and that he was working in the engine room.

HMCS Athabaskan G07
What changed also my mind about starting this blog was when I asked my 28-year old son (he was 24 at that time) if he knew the story of the sinking of the Athabaskan…
He said: “My toasts are ready…” (He had just got up and did not have breakfast yet)
It is at that moment I told him that his great uncle was a sailor aboard the Athabaskan… He started to ask me questions… and this is why I got this idea of writing a blog on the story of the sinking of HMCS Athabaskan…
My blog Souvenirs de guerre was in French and I wrote several articles before I decided to use the e-mail addresses on Stuart A. Kettles’ nephew Website from people who had sign his guest books…
Stuart Kettles was a sailor aboard the Athabaskan and he was taken prisoner by the Germans. As a tribute to his uncle, his nephew created a Website in his honour.
A dozen people wrote back the same day !
Among them the daughter of Herm Sulkers and the son of Jim Lesperance, both sailors on the Athabaskan whom I knew little about except that they were taken prisoners just like Stuart A. Kettles.
The story on the sinking of HMCS Athabaskan is well documented in English and this is why I chose to put links to other Websites like Jerry Proc’s Website.
What I want to do in Lest We Forget is to find as much as possible about the sailors that were on board on April 29, 1944.
To those who can read French, this link will direct you to the story written by Yves Dufeil. Yves has a Website dedicated to naval history. It is simply amazing. He conducted research on a 1914-1918 German Vice-admiral known for his chivalry. This story you have to read.
This is a list of the sailors who died on April 29, 1944.
I found it on this site.
Adams, John C. – AB
Agnew, John – AB
Allison, Albert E. – AB
Amiro, Irvin V. – Tel
Annett, Robert I.L. – SLt (E)
Armstrong, George A. – AB
Ashton, Percy G. – AB
Barrett, Arthur E. – AB
Bell, Donald A. – Sto
Berkeley, Alfred G. – OS
Bertrand, Laurent J.L. – CPO
Bianco, Anthony D. – AB
Bieber, Edgar E. – Sto. PO
Blinch, Harry C. – AB
Brandson, Thomas L. – Lt(S)
Brighten, Victor H. – Chief ERA*
* information from a reader
Pierre
In speaking to my dad this morning, two things emerged. The website shows Vic Brighten’s rank as ERA. He was in fact Chief ERA. He had just replaced Ernie Mills, and was therefore no supposed to be aboard, but the changeover took longer than expected so he stayed aboard for the extra 2 days.
Doug
Burrow, William O. – LS
Chamberland, Paul H.A. – AB
Cookman, Edgar A. – LS
Cooney, Stewart R. – Stwd
Corbiere, Vincent G. – AB
Corkum, Gordon F. – AB
Cottrell, Sydney A. – AB
Croft, Mayle H. – AB
Cross, Alfred T. – O.Tel
DeArmond, Gordon, L. – LS
Dillen, Stewart C. – Stwd
Dion, A. Jean G. – L.Sto
Edhouse, Donald W. – Sto
Fleming, Harold L. – AB
Forron, Jack E.A. – Sto
Fralick, Earl I. – AB
Frith, William A. – AB
Fuller, Eugene M. – AB
Gaetano, Valentino J. – AB
Gibbons, Marshall L. – AB
Goldsmith, T.H. – C. Yeo. Sig
Gordon, Lloyd M. – AB
Goulet, Robert J. – Sto
Grainger, Roy J. – LSA
Guest, Carlton G. – AB
Hayes, Christopher – OS
Heatherington, John T. – Sto
Henry, Robert J. – AB
Houison, George D. – L.Wrtr
Hurley, Micheal P. – Sto
Irvine, Leonard C. – AB
Izard, Theodore D. – Lt (E)
Jarvis, Edmund A. – LS
Johnson, Elswood S. – AB
Johnson, Richard R. – L.Sto
Johnston, Lawrence R. – AB
Kelly, Lionel D. – Stwd
Kobes, John R. – LS
Lamoureux, André – LS
Lawrence, Ralph M. – Lt
Lea, Eric E. – Sto
Ledoux, Louis – AB
Lewandowski, Stan S. – Sto
Lind, Mekkel G. – Sto PO
Love, Walter M. – ERA
Lucas, Donald O. – Sto
MacAvoy, Gerald W. – PO. Cook
MacDonald, Ashley K. – AB
MacKenzie, Alexander – AB
Maguire, John W. – L. Sto
Mahoney, John D. – Lt (SB)
Manson, John L. – Cook
Matthews, George H. – AB
McBride, John L. – AB
McCarroll, Thomas G. – Sto
McCrindle, William D. – AB
McGregor, William – L. Sto
McLean, Daniel H. – AB
McNeill, John J. – Sto
Meadwell, Richard G. – AB
Mengoni, Eric J. – AB
Metcalfe, Donald I. – Elec.Art
Millar, Victor – AB
Mills, Ernest G. – C.ERA
Mumford, Leonard K. – ERA
Nash, Robert A. – SLt
Nicholas, Joseph R. – L.Sto
Ouellette, Joseph E.V. – AB
Peart, Hubert J. – AB
Phillips, John D. – AB
Pike, Brenton J. – AB
Pothier, Charles L. – AB
Rennie, John E. – PO
Riendeau, Joseph A.L. – AB
Roberts, John C. – ERA
Roberts, Raymond L. – AB
Robertshaw, Eric – AB
Robertson, Ian A. – AB
Robertson, William – Sto
Roger, Leo A. – Sto
Rolls, Raymond B. – AB
Ryan, Norman V. – AB
St. Laurent, Joseph L.M. – AB
Sampson, Francis L. – AB
Sanderson, Earl H. – AB
Sénécal, Jean G.L. – AB
Sherlock, Albert V. – Stwd
Sigston, George D. – Gnr
Singleton, John C. – AB
Skyvington, Francis G. – SBA
Sommerfeld, Samuel W. – AB
Soucisse, Paul E. – Coder
Stevenson, Elmer H. – Sto
Stewart, John L. – AB
Stewart, William G. – Sig
Stockman, Ernest O. – Lt (E)
Stubbs, John H. – LCdr
Sutherland, John W. – AB
Sweet, Charles C. – CPO
Thompson, Harry – Sto
Tupper, Allister R. – Ord.Art
Vair, James A. – L.Stwd
Veinotte, Joseph V.W. – Sy.PO
Waitson, Maurice – AB
Wallace, Peter W. – AB
Ward, Leslie – Lt (SB)
Watson, Reginald J. – Tel
Williams, Kenneth W. – ERA
Wood, John A. – AB
Yeadon, Robert L. – AB
See you tomorrow.
I will have photos I have found on the Internet.
You can write to me by clicking here.
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