Trinity College School - Record Yearbook (Port Hope, Ontario Canada)

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TRINITY COLLEGE scHooL RECORD 19 for one thing it's the second largest port in France lpar- don me-Germanyl. But there was nothing to do but to sit tight until the enemy were nearby and then blow up everything which might be useful. The demolition was great sport and we had the satisfaction of blowing up the Normandie's drydock, but I didn't always appreciate our nightly air-raids. Sometimes I took a very poor view of them. Once I was able to get hold of an army truck, however and drove to Rouen and saw the Cathedral there, and the place Where Joan of Arc was burned. Extracts from a Letter Written by Sub-Lieutenant G. H. K. Strathy, R.C.N.V.R. lReceived by the Headmaster in Augustl Dear Mr. Ketchum: Thank you very much for your kind letter thanking me for my cable, which I was glad to hear arrived in time for the celebrations. Yesterday I received my copy of the June issue of the Record, in which I was very interested by the full report of the Reunion. I also see that you have my name down on the active service list, although you have me as a member of the Royal Navy. Although I am serving with the Royal Navy, I am actually a member of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve. if fl: Ik if :Ks ' If my cable arrived at Port Hope in exactly the same form as it is published in the Record, they must have cut out Royal Naval Barracks, Portsmouth , which was in the text of the message, for some unknown reason. I forget the exact wording of my cable, but it contained some re- ference to the Old Boys branch at R.N. Barracks, Ports- mouth . . . and the branch consisted entirely of myself! So the other old boys that joined me in the cable Cas you thoughtl are non-existent. Ill Q if Q Q

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18 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD a building where many army men were stationed, and tried to find things for the ratings to do. Our Commander was a great organizer fyou apparently have to be in the Navyi and he soon got things going. We had soccer games for the most part, and a bit of field hockey. Every night at exactly the same time the German bombers would come over and start dropping things and I must say it wasn't always too pleasant. The only thing that really frightens you is the bomb whistling on its way down. That really makes your stomach disappear. The noise of the A.A. gunfire was deafening at times, and it was an amazing sight to see all the different kinds of tracer bullets shoot- ing up into the sky. Our party was very lucky and not a man was touch- ed. Once or twice our sentries had very close shaves when bombs dropped close by, but the sand bags around them saved them from splinters and shrapnel. My scanty knowledge of the French language came in very handy, and Commander Chatwin often used Les McLernon and myself for any little jobs in connection with the French. I had the privilege of having a quiet chat and a cup of coffee with a French Admiral, which was a good experience to have had, and I also was aboard a French destroyer and shown arotmd. However, in spite of certain compensations, we were all very glad to get away from the place on Monday after- noon fJune 10thi because there was nothing to do but wait. and we had very unfavourable circumstances under which we had to organize a daily routine and give the men something to do. Fortunately the Commander realized just how green we were, and made things comparatively easy for us. I haven't told you yet that Le Havre was the port we visited in France. I thought perhaps they wouldn't ap- preciate my mentioning it before. It was 'an interesting place to be living in for two and a half weeks, because

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20 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD Unfortunately discretion and the censorship rules for- bid my telling you anything about my life since I joined the ship, except that I am enjoying myself very much and doing a great deal of work, which makes it very difficult for me to catch up on my correspondence. That is Why I took so long to answer your letter. We are all very anxious to have a good poke at the Fuehrer just as soon as he gives us a chance. All the offcers on the ship are very friendly, although of course somewhat reserved in the good old English tradition. I was pleasantly surprised to find another Canadian when I arrived on board-a midship- man by the name of Beard, who comes from Victoria, B.C. However he unfortunately met with a slight accident a few days ago fnothing to do with the perils of war-it could have happened as easily in peace timel and is hors de combat for the present, and has left the ship, I am afraid permanently. So I have been left to hold the Canadian fort all by myself. Morale is exceedingly high over here, and nobody con- siders for an instant that it is even remotely possible that England will lose the war. There was a certain amount of depression visible for a couple of days after France threw up the sponge fprobably nothing to what prevailed in Canada, from the tone of some letters that I have re- ceivedl. However that vanished in about two days, and everybody's quite happy about the whole thing now. Of course nobody thinks the war will be over to-morrow . . . but in the long run we all know what's going to happen. if: 2212 1111 511 2? P.S. As you can see, the main part of the letter has been slightly damaged at the hands of the censor. This part contained the following information CI have cut out the dates, in the hope that the censor will be more lenientl. I arrived in this country on ----- , our sailing having been delayed about a week, which time I spent in luxury in the Nova Scotian Hotel fin an unknown Eastern Cana-