Comment just received from his daughter…
My Dad, Chief Petty Officer, Douglas T Laurie, was on his way to deck as he just finished his shift in the Engine Room when the Athabaskan was torpedoed . He too was taken Prisoner of War.
My Dad passed away April 19, 2013.
These were all brave men.
About Chief Petty Officer Douglas T Laurie and many others, click here.
There is a story behind that picture.
I will tell you after the funeral.
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.
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.
Paying homage to those who served their country
Another hero
Jacques Gagnon and I were hoping this would be Eugene Gagnon’s personal diary.
It was not.
Our hopes were shattered, but we had decided to share it.
I have second thoughts since yesterday when I finally saw it.
It is very personal and does not seem to contain historical facts that merit being shared on a blog about paying homage to those who gave so much for their countries in a war.
Lawrence Walton Montague was someone who had met Eugene Gagnon only once in his life.
It was on April 24th, 1942.
He met Eugene only once.
This is one entry in Lawrence Montague’s personal diary. I thought it was the first entry before I took a look at the original.
Lawrence was a cadet in Course 44. He enlisted in the RCAF and got his first training at No. 6 EFTS Dunnville, Ontario.
There are 363 entries. One is missing because he got drunk. He never drank after. He had never drank before and he wanted to try it. Most of the entries have no historical values per se.
13th January is an example.
I don’t think he liked the weather that much in Canada.
Quite different from where he came from, Coral Gables, Florida.
So how was the weather at No. 6 STFS Dunnville, Ontario on January 13th, 1942?
Lawrence writes about it.
Did an hour night flying tonight – terrible cross wind
Flew all morning and just after dinner a typical Dunnville Snowstorm roared in & flight was washed out.
It seems that I will be in Canada & get the full benefit of its nastiest weather – Jan. Feb. & March.
What happened elsewhere in the war while Lawrence was in the midst of a typical Dunnville snowstorm…?
January 13, 1942 (source here)
Malaya.
Having withdrawn 100 miles Southwest from the capital Kuala Lumpur, Allied troops establish new defensive positions from Muar River on the West coast 40 miles inland to the town of Gemas, where B company 2/30th Australian Battalion (Australian 8th Division under Australian General Gordon Bennett) prepares an ambush at Gemencheh Bridge over the Kelamah River.
Convoy DM1 arrives at Singapore from Durban, South Africa, with 9100 troops (including British 53rd Brigade), 3.7 inch anti-aircraft guns and 52 RAF Hurricane fighters. There are only 24 pilots for the Hurricanes which are quickly demolished by Japanese Zero fighters within 2 weeks.
Eastern Front.
Red Army meets stubborn German resistance in towns Northwest and West of Moscow. Both sides are immobilised by lack of equipment and supplies and by the extreme cold, leading to fierce hand-to-hand fighting. Soviet 11th Army and German 18th Motorised Division contest possession of Staraya Russa. Soviet 29th and 39th Army fail to penetrate German 9th Army defenses around Rhzev, leading to the creating of a German salient. Soviet 11th Cavalry Corps charge is held up Southwest of Rzhev, allowing Germans to maintain a corridor West from Rzhev along the main highway to Vyazma and Smolensk. The railway goods yard at Sychevka is contested in frenzied close quarter combat.
What about Eugene Gagnon’s personal diary if he had one and if we could get our hands on it… (based on his service record and taking into account Larry’s diary). Remember that Eugene was French-Canadian.
13 janvier 1942
Une grosse tempête de neige s’est abattue sur Dunnville juste après le souper. Quelques cadets ont effectué des vols de nuit, mais le tout a été annulé. Je suis ici depuis le 4 janvier. Je suis dans le Course 46. Hier j’étais à Mount Hope. Je suis heureux d’avoir finalement réussi la première phase de mon entraînement après avoir échoué celle au No. 9 EFTS (Elementary Flying Training School) St. Catherines. Je suis fier d’avoir persévéré. Je rêve d’aller me battre en Europe.
Voici une photo du groupe. Elle appartient à Buggs, un autre cadet. Je suis en avant dans le rectangle rouge.
Eugene Gagnon went on to became a staff pilot at No. 7 B&G School Paulson, Manitoba. He then went overseas and joined 23 Squadron and flew 33 missions on a Mosquito mostly over Germany.
Everything is on this other blog.
What more do we have to say to pay homage to Eugene Gagnon who met only once in his life Lawrence Walton Montague?
Everyone can become one. You just have to be persistent with your search.
I am a very persistent person. I am also very respectful of others.
Lawrence was not. I found that out reading his diary.
So what about this Find A Grave Website where I showed you a picture last time?
I found this memorial there and I wrote the person who put the information on that site hoping he or she was related to Lawrence.
This is the reply…
No, I am not related.
I took photos of all 22,000 Veterans buried there and posted them to findagrave,
Lonnie
Next time the first entry in the journal.
Before I leave you, this is another picture of people related to Lawrence.
Father, Mother, and Larry or a brother?
So many question marks?
How’s this?
It was glued on this page.
I hope you understand why I am posting this.
I am trying hard to return it to its rightful owner.
I even searched in the 1940 U.S. Census for Lawrence.
I found him of course.
He was not living with his parents. He was a lodger. Robert L. Winters was the head of the house living with his wife Victoria.
There were 5 more lodgers. The census says he was 18.
We know he was 22. In 1935 he was living in Oklahoma City according to the census. I tried to find him there but I could have access to any documents.
I had little to go on except this on Find A Grave.
Tomorrow morning I will go and visit Jacques Gagnon who will give me the journal to continue my search for relatives. Jacques has already scanned all the pages of the journal.
Maybe he missed a page or two.
1918-1990
This comment made yesterday made me think about the diary. This blogger is writing a blog about a paratrooper who served in the Pacific.
Every history needs to be recorded, every story told – I can’t stress that enough to my readers and I know you do as well.
I will take her advice, but I will start slow with Lawrence Walton Montague’s diary.
Here goes…
Partying was part of a cadet’s life.
I read it in Art Sager’s book Saturday night, so I think I can safely post this diary page.
This is the entry for March 25, 1942. Lawrence will soon get his wings at No. 6 SFTS Dunnville.
No disrespectful remarks made on this page.
Old George Watson… Alex Strang…
Both in Course 44!
Course 44: December 6, 1941 – March 27. 1942
Wing Commander Patriarche addressed the graduates.”This coming year is going to be an extremely tough one and there will be a tendency all through the Empire of the people to criticize those in authority. It is being done already but I hope that you here, both airmen and visitors, will have no part in it. Make sure before you criticize that you always have a suggestion better than what you are criticizing. None of the men in political or military authority is of a lower standard than the rest of us. They have to be better men or they would not have got the job. You can take it for granted that those men can make just as good or better suggestions than the rest of us. Bear in mind that they have all the facts, whereas we have but a few.
+(J/10741) Eric Thomas Garrett, (J/10742) Harold Eugene Bridges (DFC), (J/10744) L.J. Smith, (J/10748) Thomas Ernest Hilary Farley, (J/10751) William James Stangel, (J/10752) Alfred Giles, +Daniel Ray Scott, +Robert Byrne Honeycombe, Eric Thomas Garrett, Wallace Oppenheimer, James W. Gillen, Gordon A. Patton, +Albert Dalton Braswell, Lee Wells, Conrad Ross Crawford, John William Hubler, Charles Arthur Plewman Appleton – DFC 433 Sqn., +Frank Joseph Borrell, Lawrence Walton Montague, Joseph Wilford McMullin, George Greenwood, +Vincent Wall, John Claire MacDonald, +Dorian Ledington, William Houston Julian, Norman Alexander Ballantyne, John Land Clinton, Edward Mielko, M.M. Fudge, John Douglas Hooper. R. King, James Pringle Morton, +Victor George DeHavilland, Harold Albert Heacock, C.E. Shannon, William Bruce Brittain (DFC), Alexander Wall Strang, G.D. Watson
Royal New Zealand Air Force: (414667) A.J. Osborne, Arthur David Leese, (414238) Alfred William Burge DFC), G.T. Couttie, +(414651) Godfrey Alan McKoy, +(414721) Harry Keith Williams, +(414677) Arthur Lyall Ray, +(41430) Bruce Mackenzie Hirstich, +(413858) Maurice Carson Jolly, + (414380) Douglas Robert Bannerman, +(413875) Frederick Thomas Martyn, +(414664) Andrew George Patterson Newman, +(414278) Raymond Cyril Going, +(414321) Mervyn Jack Mills, Jack McRae Brigham, R.R. Horo, V. Orr, R. Wing, S. Matthews, T.D. Stewart, James E. Shields, T. Alexander, W.M. Sampson, R.J. Hetherington, R.S. Campbell, J.J. McMath, J.N. Buchanan, B.G. Simpson, J.M. McCarrison, W.P. Bennett, (414374) William Frank Bern
Not much information on those two cadets on the Internet, but now you understand the importance of this diary to look for people related to these cadets and share what we know about No. 6 SFTS Dunnville, Ontario.
Lawrence glued this on a page in his diary giving us more clues to look at.
G. D. Watson, New Westminster, B.C.
A. W. Strang, Halifax, N.S.
Now you understand even more the importance of this diary when you look at this picture also glued on a page.
I believe little Larry is on the right.
Next time, we will go back in time with Lawrence’s first entry in his personal diary.
Before I leave, who was Old Scotty?
Was he Daniel Ray Scott from Coleman, Texas who died in WWII?
Thanks for showing me the way…
Is it that important that we find relatives of this man even though he was not a famous ace during WWII?
I think so.
Lawrence Walton Montague
1918-1990
Is it that important that we give back this personal diary he wrote back in 1942?
I was asking myself this question this weekend. The answer was obvious.
This diary is quite sensitive in nature. It reads like a novel and it reveals Lawrence Walton Montague’s inner feelings about the war.
What bothers me are the entries that are sometimes shocking and very disrespectful of his superiors and his comrades revealing the character about a young man who enlisted in the RCAF, but who regretted this move.
Why he enlisted is not known.
He did so before December 7th, 1941. Strangely enough there is no mention of Pearl Harbor anywhere in the diary nor about the U.S. entering the war.
I got my answer.
I have just started reading a book written by a famous Spitfire pilot.
He wrote it using his diary.
He writes that when he was a cadet, cadets were not that interested with what was going on with the war. Lawrence’s attitude seems then to have been prevalent with young cadets during WWII.
I am going to continue with this story, but not because of Lawrence and his controversial entries in his diary, but because of the overwhelming research done on the Website that had his name and try help perpetuate the memory of the new pilots who stood at attention listening to Wing Commander Patriarche address on March 27, 1942.
Course 44: December 6, 1941 – March 27. 1942
+(J/10741) Eric Thomas Garrett, (J/10742) Harold Eugene Bridges (DFC), (J/10744) L.J. Smith, (J/10748) Thomas Ernest Hilary Farley, (J/10751) William James Stangel, (J/10752) Alfred Giles, +Daniel Ray Scott, +Robert Byrne Honeycombe, Eric Thomas Garrett, Wallace Oppenheimer, James W. Gillen, Gordon A. Patton, +Albert Dalton Braswell, Lee Wells, Conrad Ross Crawford, John William Hubler, Charles Arthur Plewman Appleton – DFC 433 Sqn., +Frank Joseph Borrell, Lawrence Walton Montague, Joseph Wilford McMullin, George Greenwood, +Vincent Wall, John Claire MacDonald, +Dorian Ledington, William Houston Julian, Norman Alexander Ballantyne, John Land Clinton, Edward Mielko, M.M. Fudge, John Douglas Hooper. R. King, James Pringle Morton, +Victor George DeHavilland, Harold Albert Heacock, C.E. Shannon, William Bruce Brittain (DFC), Alexander Wall Strang, G.D. Watson
Royal New Zealand Air Force: (414667) A.J. Osborne, Arthur David Leese, (414238) Alfred William Burge DFC), G.T. Couttie, +(414651) Godfrey Alan McKoy, +(414721) Harry Keith Williams, +(414677) Arthur Lyall Ray, +(41430) Bruce Mackenzie Hirstich, +(413858) Maurice Carson Jolly, + (414380) Douglas Robert Bannerman, +(413875) Frederick Thomas Martyn, +(414664) Andrew George Patterson Newman, +(414278) Raymond Cyril Going, +(414321) Mervyn Jack Mills, Jack McRae Brigham, R.R. Horo, V. Orr, R. Wing, S. Matthews, T.D. Stewart, James E. Shields, T. Alexander, W.M. Sampson, R.J. Hetherington, R.S. Campbell, J.J. McMath, J.N. Buchanan, B.G. Simpson, J.M. McCarrison, W.P. Bennett, (414374) William Frank Bern
So is it that important that we find relatives of this man even though he was not a famous ace during WWII?
I think so.
Lest We Forget 