Uncle Willie and survivors of the sinking of HMCS Athabaskan G07 occasionally got together over the years. At this time, there are only three men left from the original crew. The Friends of HMCS Haida Association in Hamilton would honour the survivors each year on the date of the sinking but they discontinued the practise a few years ago as the last two men who could attend were too frail. As the Unit Public Affairs Representative for HMCS Athabaskan 282, I created the photo above as a keepsake for the last presentation to Ernest Takalo.
The faded image of the returning Athabaskan POWs from Germany. AB Bill Trickett is front and center in the first row with his trademark grin.
AB Bill Trickett’s POW Experience
This entry contains photos from Willie’s Log related to his POW stay in Marlag und Milag Nord near Bremen, Germany.
The Orleans group were Athabaskans too severely injured to be sent to Germany. They were sent to an Orleans army hospital, Front-Stalag 133A. They were liberated early when Paris was taken in August 1944.Uncle Willie’s signature on the back of the paperSnapshots of the German POW campA POW issued 10 Reichspfenning note that was not legal German currency. A couple of family photos from home of his father, mother, and sister, Bill, Agnes, and Jessie.A picture of the POWs of Barrack ‘V’. Willie is back row, fourth from the left and not smiling. The middle photo appears to be a machine for boiling water. The bottom photo looks like a prisoner’s drama skit.Random photos of a violin maker, a European city street, and a group of menStockheath Naval Camp located in Portsmouth, England would have been a stopover point for the returning Athabaskan POWs after they were liberated. Dated May 11, 1945, Uncle Willie would have exchanged some Belgian Francs for British Pounds. HMS Victory was Nelson’s ship which I also visited while on a NATO deployment to Europe.A receipt for an American Red Cross package, some possible wrapping paper from something in the package, and a possible ration card dated 1 Juni 1944A much earlier photo of AB Trickett. Unsure of who Ted and Mack are but Ted might be AB Ted Hewitt who was rescued by HMCS Haida.
The following entry is a collection of ship photos from Willie’s logbook.
AB Willie Trickett is front and center with the monster grin. It was the Bay of Biscay where Athatbaskan was attacked by the new German glider bomb. If the German bomber had set the fuse properly, the ship and most of the crew would have been killed. During the sinking, the aft gun crews were all killed or injured.
Spitzbergen was a hotly contested northern Norway island that was important for helping to supply Russia during the Murmansk convoy supply runs.
Every sailor knows about ‘Paint Ship Routine’. This sailor is painting the barrel of the ‘A’ Gun far forward. Athabaskan G07 was painted in a broken paint scheme to camouflage the ship.
G07 with a one colour paint scheme. The photo with 261 on the side is HMCS Mackenzie – a Mackenzie class destroyer escort commissioned in 1962.
Another picture of G07. The photo of the ship pendant number 225 is a post-war photo of HMCS SIOUX – a V class destroyer. During the war her pendant number was R64
A NDHQ photo of G07
The various ships of the 10th Division Force with best regards from Emile Beaudoin, a fellow Athabaskan POW.
A funny cartoon labeled ‘How To Train Your Dog’ and Pete & Freddy
POW Drawings
As promised, here is a continuation of the entries contained within Able Seaman Willie Trickett’s Wartime Log. Many of his barrack mates and friends added their drawings to the book.
A cartoon signed ‘You wait until I see Lolly’ Best (?) Deutschland 1945. Artist unknown
A German Torpedo Boat or E-Boat, drawn by AB R. Westaway of Toronto.
Signatures of the 15 men sharing Room “V” Barrack with AB Trickett. Possibly a depiction of Bill (upper bunk) and William Edgar Connolly.
Names and addresses of the men of Room ‘V’ Barrack
W. D. Trickett, Kelwood, Man
Elmer Scratch, Blythewood, Ont.
Gerry Webster, 507 Manitoba Ave, Saskatoon, Sask.
J. Laidler, 1743 West 2nd Ave., Vancouver BC – “The Duke”
R. D. Osborne, 1110-2nd St, Saskatoon
W. Bint, 711 Ave. “H”. South, Saskatoon, Sask.
Lester McKeeman, Gaspereaux, PEI
E. A. Rouse, Tillsonburg, Ont.
J. W. Fairchild, 33 St. Genevieve Ave, Quebec City
R. E. Phillips, Ocean Falls, BC
J. L’Esperance, 515 Newton Ave., Winnipeg, Man.
D. Sweeney,7516 Querbes Ave, Montreal, Quebec
W. E. Connolly, 18 Locke St. N. Hamilton, Ont
J. Acorn, Cardigan, PEI
E. R. Beach, Balgonie, Sask
R. H. Cummins, Wild Rose, Sask.
An older Tribal Class Destroyer, HMS Bedouin ‘Sunk in Action Off Pantellaria, 15th June 1942. Artist signature could be J. Dunk, R.N. who signed, ‘Best Wishes Bud. “Ginger”‘
An extra loose cartoon in the Log dated the 24th of August probably 1944
Greek H.M. S/M “Triton” Sunk in action off Andros (Greece) by German corvettes 16th November 1942. Signature indistinct.
Like any good Navy ditty, this tale starts in a bar. Little did I know, a visit to the local Legion in my home village of Kelwood, MB would end up as a quest to uncover some of my own Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) family history.
While sipping on a beer, I was perusing the mass of military memorabilia on the Legion walls. Then to my great surprise, I saw the crest of my old HMCS Athabaskan 282 up on the wall labeled with the date of the original Athabaskan’s G07 sinking. A relative identified it as a donation from my deceased Great Uncle Willie. Unbeknownst to me, Able Seaman William Dearl Trickett, RCNVR, Stoker (1st Class), V38773 had served onboard HMCS Athabaskan G07!
Due to my obvious RCN ties, I wanted to know more and started my first queries with my parents. Mom said, ‘Oh yes, he was a Japanese POW and complained that his stomach was never the same after being interned.’ Well, the family’s account of Uncle Willie’s war exploits was about half a world off and the wrong Axis power, so I started hunting for actual documentation to see if I could uncover Willie’s true war experiences.
Signed by R.A. Westaway, RCNVR Toronto, CAN, MARLAG(M) Germany March 4, 1945
As a previous bridge officer and Public Affairs Representative for HMCS Athabaskan 282 for two years, I was already intimately acquainted with the history and sinking of the original ship. The ship had been one of four RCN flagship destroyers and the pride of Canada. While taking part in an action against a German task group, she was fatally struck by torpedoes off the coast of France, April 29, 1944. The sinking of one of Canada’s cherished destroyers and loss of 128 men, including the Captain, was the greatest RCN loss due to enemy action of the war.
The RCN regularly conducts Remembrance ceremonies near the site of the sinking each time a ship is near that particular stretch of French territorial waters. In fact, in 2015 while on a NATO deployment to the Mediterranean, my Athabaskan did a ceremony over that lonely patch of the English Channel. I was unaware that 70 years previously, my young Uncle, oil soaked and hypothermic, was desperately clinging to life at that very spot. In a twist of fate, their sister ship HMCS Haida, was unable to stay in the area long enough to rescue all their stricken comrades but the German torpedo boat T24 that they had been hunting just a few hours before returned to fish the Canadians out of the sea.
There have been numerous writings describing the exploits and disposition of the ill-fated Athabaskan G07 and her crew. Two excellent books, Unlucky lady: The life & death of HMCS Athabaskan and All The Ship’s Men, detail the history and personal stories of many of the crew. After poring anew through my copies, I found Uncle Willie’s name listed on the crew manifest and a couple of photos. In one, he is clearly seen seated in the back of a truck flanked by German soldiers after being brought ashore at Brest, France. In another, he is lined up with his messmates in the POW camp Marlag und Milag Nord, near Bremen, Germany. Luckily, he did not appear to have suffered any severe injuries from the torpedo blasts, the resulting explosions and fire, or his hours of floating in the oily debris of his sunken ship. Unfortunately, he and 82 other Athabaskans spent the rest of the war locked up as German POWs.
But other than a few tantalizing tidbits of specific information, Bill Trickett’s military story might have easily gone to his grave when he passed away in Victoria, BC, December 14, 2004 at the age of 79. Considering the trauma of shipmates dying all around him in the water, the hardships of POW life, and some friendly fire tragedies leading up to his liberation in May 1945, it was no wonder that he never really spoke of his experiences.
Of course, complicating matters as I continued to dig, most of his military memorabilia had been liquidated and was scattered who knows where. But I turned up an old Ebay ad for his Y.M.C.A. Wartime Log (POW No. 1295 of Marlag und Milag Nord, Germany). After a lot of sleuthing, I tracked the logbook down to a military collector in California who graciously sold it back to me.
The Canadian Y.M.C.A. in December 1944 gave every Canadian POW a Wartime Log so that they could keep a diary of their experiences. Although Uncle Willie’s logbook did not have much in the way of personal writings, it did contain much of the flotsam and jetsam that a Navy sailor collects during their travels.
The men of Room “V” Barrack. Possibly a depiction of Bill (upper bunk) and William Edgar Connolly.
Many of Bill’s friends drew intricate drawings and cartoons in the pages of his logbook. There are old photos of G07, the POW camp, and fellow sailors. He had a receipt from his mother, Mrs. W. Trickett, listing the contents of a POW parcel. Daily camp rations were basically a chunk of bread and a potato. Red Cross parcels and food mailed from relatives saved the POWs lives. There were also receipts for cartons of 300 Sweet Caporal cigarettes from Mr. W.E. Trickett, Mr. A. Trickett, and Mrs. Lyle Wilson of Kelwood. Cigarettes were too valuable in camp to smoke and were traded with the German guards for food and material. For example, the going rate for a radio was about 5000 smokes. In letters to home, prisoners would often ask for the prized Canadian commodity as German cigarettes were rather inferior. Aid groups and support from the home front made the tedium and privations of life behind barbed wire tolerable.
Also, to my surprise, William D. Trickett had been presented the Soviet Union’s Jubilee Medal “Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945” from the USSR Ambassador to Canada, Aleksei Alekseievich Rodionov on October 1, 1988. Known as the Murmansk Medal, only a small handful of non-Russians have ever received this honour. The RCN, USN and Royal Navy convoy runs up to the high Arctic region of Russia from 1941 to 1945 kept the country in the war and provided the critical eastern front that divided Hitler’s forces.
Bill Trickett was a genuine, unsung war hero. It was sad that his story had been in danger of slipping away. Precious few veterans are left and although the mantra of ‘We will remember’ is repeated each November 11, most of their tales have faded away as they have. Their accounts of their experiences are fascinating, compelling, tragic, and occasionally interspersed with a bit of levity. They are worthy of our attention and remembrance.
Talk to the veterans who are left including those from Afghanistan and all the other Canadian Armed Forces deployments. Listen to their stories, write them down, pass them on, and actually remember what these people have done to guarantee our Canadian freedoms.
This Remembrance Day, I will be presenting an Athabaskan 282 main gun 76mm shell casing to the Kelwood Royal Canadian Legion #50 in the name of my Great Uncle Willie and fellow Athabaskan. Dubbed as a ‘Sister of the Space Age’, Athabaskan 282 was the last of the RCN’s destroyers and will be the last ship to carry that proud name.
Able Seaman Bill Trickett’s Wartime Log has been scanned in its entirety and is available for viewing in a series of blogs on my website at: http://www.happydiver.space/?cat=265
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.
Milag POW Ration List a month before Uncle Bill’s liberation
Support From the Home Front
For Able Seaman William Dearl Trickett, POW #1295 and the other Athabaskans behind the barbed wire of Marlag und Milag Nord, adequate food rations were an issue. Too be fair, the Germans in the Bremen area themselves would have had their own issues securing foodstuffs considering the Allied advances. But when your usual daily rations were only a chunk of bread, some tea, a bit of jam, and a potato, the stomach would have been empty most of the time.
Shortly after the 83 Athabaskans were captured at the end of April 1944, an urgent call from the Red Cross for Emergency Kits for newly captured Canadian and British personnel was the front page of the 30 May Canadian Prisoners of War Relatives Association News Sheet. 3000 kits consisting of a towel, face cloth, tooth powder, tooth brush, comb, shaving stick, soap, razor and blades and two safety pins were being shipped immediately. They were trying to also raise sufficient funds to send another 12,000 kits (cost of $1.50 each) ‘as soon as possible so that a large supply will be ready for any emergency that may arise within the next few months.’ I would say that D-Day was a poorly kept secret and everyone knew it was near.
A Molsons Brewery ad asking for donations for 12,000 ‘Urgenrly (sic) Needed’ POW Emergency Kits
The Canadian POW Relatives News Sheet publications are fascinating to read and would have given the people on the Canadian Home Front an opportunity to support their captured loved ones.
In order to supplement their POW existence, Uncle Bill received food, supplies and well wishes from the Red Cross and loved ones from Kelwood. Below are scans of his Wartime Logbook of items he kept describing the support and parcels he received.
A list of items in a care parcel sent by Bill’s mother
A blank American Red Cross parcel receipt, aluminum foil with paper backing that might have been some type of food wrapper, and a 1 Jun 1944 German food card
Below is a listing of the contents of the various aid parcels that would come to the POW camps. It was said that the Canadian parcels contained the best provisions and were highly sought after.
Contents of Red Cross Parcels
American: 8 oz. Cocoa or 2 ‘D’ Bars. 6 Oz. Jam. 1 Oz. Salt & Pepper. 12 Biscuits ‘K2’. 1 Lb. Prunes. 12 Oz. Bully Beef. 12 oz. Meat & veg. or Spam. 6 Oz. Meat Pate. 8 Oz. Cheese. 1 Lb. Powdered Milk. 8 Oz. Sugar. 1 Lb Oleomargarine. 4 Oz. Soluble Coffee. 8 Oz. Salmon or 2 Sardines. 2 Soap. 80 Cigarettes. 7(?) Vit. C Tablets.
Canadian: 5 Oz. Chocolate. 1 Lb. Jam. 1 Oz. Salt & Pepper. 12 Biscuits. 6 Oz. Prunes. 12 Oz. Bully Beef. 10 Oz. Ham. 7 Oz. Raisins. 4 Oz. Cheese. 1 Lb. Powdered Milk. 8 Oz. Sugar. 1 Lb, Butter. 6 Oz. Coffee or 4 Oz. Tea. 8 Oz. Salmon. 1 Sardine. 1 Soap.
English: 4 Oz. Chocolate. 8 Oz. Jam. 1 tin Egg Powder (2 Oz. Approx.). 8 Oz. Service Biscuits. 8 Oz, Prunes or Apricots. 12 Oz. Meat Roll. 16 Oz. Meat & Veg. 4 Oz. Oatmeal. 1 Soap. 3 Oz. Cheese. 1 Tin Condensed Milk. 4 Oz. Sugar. 8 Oz. Margarine. 4 Oz. Cocoa. 2 Oz. Tea. 8 Oz. Salmon or 8 Oz. Bacon. 1 Pancake Powder or 1 Creamed Rice or 1 Apple Pudding.
Argentine Bulk: 3 Oz. Bully Beef. 5 Oz. Meat & Veg. 3 Oz. Ragout. 2 Oz. Corned Mutton. 4 Oz Pork & Beans. 5 Oz. Butter. 2 Oz. Lard. 2 Oz. Honey. 5 Oz. Jam. 2 Oz. Milk Jam (?). 4 Oz. Condensed Milk. 8 Oz. Sugar. 7 Oz. Cheese. 8 Oz. Biscuits. 1 oz. Pea & Lentil Flour. 3 Oz. Chocolate. 2 Oz. Cocoa. 1 Oz. Tea. 1 Soap. 3 Oz. Dried Fruit
Almost more important than food was the demand for cigarettes requested by and shipped to the Canadian POWs. Letters to home contained pleas to send more cigarettes. Their true purpose was not necessarily for Canadian consumption but for bartering with the German guards for extra necessities. German tobacco was of inferior quality and Canadian cigarettes were used in trade. For example, the going rate for a radio was 5000 to 1.
Large ads like these were regularly run in the Canadian POW Relatives News Sheet.
Relatives of Uncle Bill’s took advantage of the ‘300 Cigarettes for 76¢’ and he kept their receipts in his Logbook.
Mr. W. E. Trickett, Mrs. Lyle Wilson, and Mr. A. Trickett of Kelwood took advantage of the Imperial Tobacco 76¢ offer to send Bill packages of 300 Sweet Caporal cigarettes.
Along with the relief parcels and smokes, there was correspondence back and forth from home. Care was taken to keep personal details to a minimum due to the fact that the Germans might use information on a POW against him. But once the family knew the POW’s prisoner number and their camp, they could send them letters. None were in Bill’s Logbook, neither sent or received but there were some examples of how he could have corresponded.
The first item at the top of the page was a type of pre-printed letter that could be folded up into it’s own envelope. The bottom item was a plain postcard that the POWs could send. Kriegsgefangenenpost translates into Prisoner of War Mail. Postage for the postcards was free and from my research, German POWs in Canada were charged 30¢ to send a letter home via airmail.
Uncle Bill also kept a special piece of Canadian mail from Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King who sent every Canadian POW his well wishes for Christmas 1944. Each POW also received a Canadian Christmas care parcel as well.
Due to the volume of Christmas cards interfering with the normal mail, the POWs had to make due with the PM’s Christmas wishes in 1944.
From my own deployment experiences overseas, I can say that keeping in contact with the Home Front does wonders for moral. Just that little bit of mail or the occasional care parcel would have kept Bill and his fellow prisoners going all those long monthes while waiting for liberation.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.
Every sailor gathers bits and pieces of their travels and keeps them squirreled away as souvenirs of their life at sea. Able Seaman William Dearl Trickett was no exception.
This installment is a selection of the random memories he kept in his Wartime Log.
Meal Ticket #12. Address of Billet or Hostel – 38, Rue de Taciturne. Address of Feeding Centre – 63, Rue de La Loi. These are addresses close to one another in Brussels, Belgium. Uncle Bill must have stayed here after his liberation. 38 Taciturne is a non-descript building that now houses the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung EU Office, the oldest political foundation in Germany. 63, Rue de La Loi is a larger office building that holds the Belgium Permanent Representation to the EU. The meal ticket is not punched, so it might have been extra or the former POWs moved on before they could use them.
A 10 Reichsmark banknote issued in 1929. It was replaced by USA ‘Occupation’ banknotes in 1945. Present worth – $3 CAD
Narrative of a British Free Corps recruiting flyer. In 1943, the Nazis began a program (The BFC) to recruit POWs to fight against the combined Jewish/Communist European threat. Uncle Bill would have received this in his camp.
Only 12 men joined the BFC and the only ‘action’ they saw was when 10 of them were sent to the Russian front in March 1945. None of them fired a shot.
Above: A Chocolate Aguila (Eagle) bar wrapper. Nec plus Ultra would mean the ‘Ultimate’ candy bar. Below: A cigarette package from South America
A 20 and 10 Reichsmark banknote issued in 1929. Below is a 2 Rentenmark banknote that was worth about 50 cents CAD when issued in 1937.
These papers appear to be German food slips and stamps. The line at the bottom of the second one makes it clear that the owner should take good care not to lose them.
Left – A Hitler 1 pfennig postage stamp. Upper Right – A CCCP 15 Kopeck (cent) 1943 coin worth about $1. Bottom Right – A Norwegian 50 Øre – Haakon VII WW2 German Occupation coin, date unknown but issued between 1941 – 45.
Egyptian address of Ali Mohamed Hamamo. A 1 Rentenmark note issued in 1937. A POW issued 10 Reichspfenning note that was not legal German currency. A 5 Reichsmark note issued in 1942.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.
HMCS Athabaskan G07 in Spitzbergen, Norway while on the Murmansk Run
The Murmansk Medal
(Jubilee Medal “Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945”)
(Russian Convoy Medal 1941-1945 40th Anniversary Medal)
Юбилейная медаль «Сорок лет Победы в Великой Отечественной войне 1941—1945 гг.»
Presented to William D. Trickett from USSR Ambassador to Canada Aleksei Alekseievich Rodionov on October 1, 1988. Along with all of the rest of Uncle Willie’s wartime memorabilia, his medals were probably sold off. A long term project of mine will be to track them down.
The Jubilee Medal “Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945” (Russian: Юбилейная медаль «Сорок лет Победы в Великой Отечественной войне 1941—1945 гг.») was a state commemorative medal of the Soviet Union established on April 12, 1985 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR[1] to denote the fortieth anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. The Jubilee Medal “Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945” was awarded to: all military and civilian personnel of the Armed Forces of the USSR who took part in the Great Patriotic War of 1941 – 1945, to partisans of the Great Patriotic War, to the personnel of the Armed Forces of the USSR, as well as any other persons who were awarded the Medal “For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945” or the Medal “For the Victory over Japan”; to home front workers, who were awarded for their dedicated work during the Great Patriotic War Orders of the USSR, the Medal “For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945”
In June 1941 Russia and Britain found themselves in alliance against Germany. As a result Britain agreed to supply the Soviet Union with material and goods via convoys through the Arctic Seas. The destinations were the northern ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. To reach them, the convoys had to travel dangerously near the German occupied Norwegian coastline.
After the war there were many commemorative medals issued by various governments, of these, only one was approved for wear with real medals, The Queen did approve the Russian “40th Anniversary of Victory in the Second World War” gong, and it so appears in the Canada Gazette. Known locally as the Murmansk medal because a number of RCN sailors on that convoy were eligible to receive one.
Medal Presentation card found in Uncle Willie’s Wartime Log
(Narrative courtesy of Veterans Affairs Canada and the son of Jim L’Esperance who was a fellow sailor and POW with Uncle Willie. Leading Seaman L’Esperance also received this medal in 1988.)
Canada’s merchant navy was vital to the Allied cause during the Second World War. Its ships transported desperately needed equipment, fuel, goods and personnel to Europe and around the world. The very outcome of the war depended on the successful transport of troops and cargo by the sea. Although there were no safe havens for the merchant seaman, the greatest number of ships and men were lost on the North Atlantic routes and the notorious Murmansk Run.
In June of 1941, the German military launched an offensive against the Soviet Union. Political differences aside, it was determined by the Western allies that any nation warring with Germany should be considered an ally. As a result, agreements were reached to send much needed military equipment and lend-lease supplies to the Soviet Union in order to assist in their fight against the Germans. The Soviet Navy lacked the capacity to transport the massive amount of supplies, such as military equipment, vehicles and other raw materials, so much of the transport and convoy escort work was handled by the British, Canadians and Americans. The fastest (but most dangerous) supply route was through the Barents Sea in the Arctic Ocean to the Northern port city of Murmansk. This Arctic supply route became known as ‘The Murmansk Run’. Due to the great military and political significance of these shipments, the Germans fought hard to destroy them, and as a result, more than twenty percent of convoy cargo was lost on The Murmansk Run compared with only a six percent loss of cargo shipped to the Soviets through the Iranian ports in the Persian Gulf.
Convoys sailing along the northern tip of Norway and through the Barents Sea were exposed to one of the largest concentrations of German U-boats, surface raiders and aircraft anywhere in the world. Attacks by more than a dozen submarines and literally hundreds of planes at one time were common. Due to the high concentration of Germans patrolling the region, and the fear of being attacked by prowling German U-boats, strict orders were given that forbade any merchant ship from stopping for even a moment.
The consequences of these orders only reinforced the danger of the missions as individuals who fell overboard had to be ignored, and ships could not stop to help comrades in distress.
In addition to the German resistance, the voyage was made even more treacherous as Mother Nature routinely unleashed her fury across the cold Arctic Ocean. Many of the convoys sailed The Murmansk Run in the winter due to the almost constant darkness which helped to conceal the ships. This advantage proved to be only slight as other problems, such as greater amounts of polar ice, led to difficult navigation and forced the convoy route to move closer to German occupied Norway. The temperature was often far below zero and freezing winds from the North could easily reach hurricane force causing the waves to swell to heights in excess of seventy feet. At such temperatures, sea spray froze immediately to any exposed area of the ship, and created a heavy covering of tonnes of topside ice which could cause a ship to capsize if not cleared away. Binoculars, guns and torpedoes froze, and the decks were covered with a smooth coat of ice which made walking nearly impossible.
The supply shipments began in late Summer of 1941 and merchant mariners from Canada served on Canadian, British and American ships (as well as ships of other nationalities) to support the supply convoys to the Soviets. From 1941 to 1945, forty-one convoys sailed to Murmansk and Archangel carrying an estimated $18 billion in cargo from the United States, Great Britain and Canada. Among the millions of tons of supplies were an estimated 12,206 aircraft, 12,755 tanks, 51,503 jeeps, 1,181 locomotives, 11,155 flatcars, 135,638 rifles and machine guns, 473 million shells, 2.67 million tons of fuel and 15 million pairs of boots.
The Royal Canadian Navy became involved in convoy escorts in October 1943, and from that time until the end of the war Canadian warships participated in about three-quarters of the missions. Canadian ships involved in supporting the convoys included the destroyers Haida, Huron, Iroquois, Athabaskan, Sioux and Algonquin, and approximately nine frigates from Escort Groups 6 and 9. None of the Canadian ships were lost while escorting convoys on The Murmansk Run.
Canadian Navy personnel had little contact with the Russian people. Layovers in the Murmansk area were brief, and few officers and men were allowed ashore. However, it is interesting to note that the first Canada-Soviet hockey game was held during a stopover in 1945 when sailors from the destroyer HMCS Algonquin played an exhibition hockey game against Soviet personnel. It is believed that the Soviets won the game 3-2.
Despite the dangers and hardships faced by the convoys sailing The Murmansk Run, the Allies were unanimous in their desire to keep the Soviet Union in the fight. It was feared that if the Soviets were conquered, as the Russians had been in 1917, the Germans would focus the majority of their forces in the West.
Because of the strategic importance of these supply lines, fierce German resistance, and extreme weather conditions, the merchant mariners and Navy sailors that sailed their vessels on The Murmansk Run are considered some of the bravest veterans in history.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.
The Mystery of AB William Dearl Trickett, Stoker (1st Class)
Able Seaman William Dearl Trickett, RCNVR
Little did I know when I visited the local Legion in my home village of Kelwood, MB, that I would end up on a quest to uncover some military family history that would have soon passed into oblivion.
While sipping on my Club beer (it’s still horrible stuff), I was perusing the military memorabilia on the walls when to my great surprise, I saw the crest of my old Athabe (HMCS Athabaskan DDG 282) up on the wall with the date of the original HMCS Athabaskan G07’s sinking on it. A relative happened to be there who said it was from my old Great Uncle Willie. Unbeknownst to me, Able Seaman (AB) William Dearl Trickett, RCNVR, Stoker (1st Class), V38773 had served onboard HMCS Athabaskan G07! Due to the obvious Navy ties, I started my first inquiries with my parents. Mom said, oh yes, he was a Japanese POW and complained that his stomach was never the same after being interned. Well, they were about half a world off and the wrong Axis power, so I started hunting for actual documentation. He was onboard G07 when she went out for her final patrol April 28, 1944 and fortunately he didn’t perish with the other 128 men of his ship that night. Unfortunately, he ended up being part of the 83 men captured by the Germans and he spent the rest of the war in a POW camp, Marlag und Milag Nord. Of course, like most WWII vets, Willie never spoke of his experiences and might have easily taken them to the grave.
Of course, complicating matters as I continued to dig, his surviving son out in Victoria had financial issues and is estranged from the family. He must have liquidated his father’s possessions because I turned up an old Ebay ad for his Wartime Log (POW No. 1295 of Marlag und Milag Nord, Germany) and an original photo of G07. Command Post, a military memorabilia shop in Victoria, had sold the items on Dec 08, 2011 for $1165 and $24.49. Enquiries with the shop were a dead end. I started to track down organizations, outfits, and forums who would have some idea of who might have been interested in such items. My intention was to ask the present owner if they would be willing to part with the items especially the logbook. The log is an invaluable part of both my family and RCN history that IMHO shouldn’t be hidden away by some private collector.
I have slowly chipped away the layers of mystery surrounding the wartime record of my Uncle. It was a little difficult as the family had never received a Death Notice or Obituary on either he or my blood aunt who had resided in Saanich, BC. All I could find was a mention of the date of his passing in the Legion’s Last Post archives. I have the BC Genealogical Society helping me track down his final whereabouts plus I’ve sent a request to Ottawa for his Service Records. If any of you know Dr. André Levesque, he was kindly helping me also.
Kelwood Legion #50
My ultimate intention with all of this sleuthing is to put together a proper narrative and memorial for presentation to Willie’s home Legion back in Kelwood especially in light of the upcoming 75th anniversary of the sinking next year. Every Remembrance Day people say the words ‘We will remember’ but they ring hollow if stories like my Uncles are lost. I’m glad I was part of the Athabaskan 282 Remembrance ceremonies for G07 when we were near the site of the wreck in 2015. I find it amazing that two related prairie boys from the same little hamlet ended up in the same spot with the same namesake ships.
So the hunt for the Wartime Log ended up being successful. An American collector had bought the Log from the Victoria shop and saw my Ebay ad and thankfully contacted me. He had sold it to another collector in Burbank, California and long story short, the fellow there sold the Log back to me for his purchase cost.
Now that I have the Log, I will be making scans of the material it contains available here on my blogs and on the For Posterity’s Sake webpage. Below is the start of the Log which I will post in its entirety with a description of each page.
For Christmas 1944, the YMCA gave every Canadian POW a Wartime Log
Signed by AB/ST R.A. Westaway, RCNVR Toronto, CAN, MARLAG(M) Germany March 4, 1945. AB Westaway would have been a friend doing a similiar job as Uncle Willie.
“Best Wishes Phil 1945” Possibly AB Russel E. Phillips, V926 of Ocean Falls, BC
The Edgar who did this was possibly Signalman William E. Connolly of Hamilton, Ont who was a fellow POW roommate.
‘G.W.W. Marlag M 1945’ This would have been fellow POW roommate Gerry Webster of Saskatoon, Sask. The men ‘Repatriated from Orleans’ were not members of G07 but were perhaps previously held in Orleans, France.
Kongelige Norke Marine – Royal Norwegian Navy. This is possibly a list of RNN sailors who perished during action or were Norwegian POWs at the same camp as Uncle Willie.
Var ere og var makt har hvite seil oss bragt – Be honest(?) and be power has white sail us brought. Alt for Norge – Everything for Norway. This would have been a Norwegian sailor POW. The signature appears to be ‘By Frobue(?)-Olsen POW 829.
Another entry from fellow POW barrack mate W.E. Connolly of Hamilton, Ont
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.
The Jubilee Medal “Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945” was awarded to: all military and civilian personnel of the Armed Forces of the USSR who took part in the Great Patriotic War of 1941 – 1945, to partisans of the Great Patriotic War, to the personnel of the Armed Forces of the USSR, as well as any other persons who were awarded the Medal “For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945” or the Medal “For the Victory over Japan”; to home front workers, who were awarded for their dedicated work during the Great Patriotic War Orders of the USSR, the Medal “For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945”
