Man Overboard
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- Medium: Video
- Owner: Veterans Affairs Canada and Testaments of Honour
- Duration: 2:20
- Copyright / Permission to Reproduce
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Man Overboard
The HMCS Fundy was a minesweeper. Roch Daoust describes the rescue of survivors from a ship that was torpedoed by the Germans.
Roch Daoust
Roch D’Aoust was born on April 23, 1924, in Alfred, Ontario. When the war broke out, he worked for the war industry in Québec: ammunition manufacturing in Brownsburg, nitro-cotton manufacturing in Valleyfield and shipbuilding in Montréal. Then in 1944, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy. He did his basic training on HMCS Donnacona and was later transferred to Cornwallis, N.S. to complete his training. He then shipped out on board HMCS Fundy, a minesweeper. The Fundy headed a group of three small ships that made sure passage was free and safe for the large convoys of ships sailing between Canada and Europe. In addition to destroying mines, the Fundy saved a number of casualties from passenger ships sunk by enemy submarines. Finally, he joined the crew of the HMCS Sioux, a destroyer intended to fight Japan but the war ended while the Sioux was on mission in the Pacific.
Transcription
In one day, our three minesweepers picked up some sixty survivors in the water.
I’ll always remember that. When a torpedo hits a boat, if there was someone standing on the upper deck, his boots would stay there and he’d fly up. His laces would go pfftt, fit . . . And sometimes, you’re just about to pick a guy up out of the water and a wave comes along. You know, the North Atlantic, it’s not like the Saint Lawrence. So we’d pick up guys and the captain was on top and he’d say, ”Eh, split the main bridge.” That means get out all the rum you’ve got. We’d get them out of the water . . . and the water is cold like you wouldn’t believe, and we’d wrap them up in blankets and as soon as they’d come around, they’d start . . . you know, with the thanks. But the captain would say, “Don’t touch that, don’t do anything. Take care of them and that’s all.”
I’ll always remember one of our guys, his name was Bud Lawsen (sp). He’d tied a rope around his waist and said to Louis Dubuc, one of my friends, “I’m going to dive in the water and get some of them.” The captain said, “If you dive in the water . . . ” The captain always had his gun with him. He said, “If you dive into the water, I’m going to shoot you, do you understand? You’re under my jurisdiction.” And he said, “You’re all my children, and that’s all. We’ll pick up the ones we can.” He was a great captain. In any case, I like picking blueberries a lot better than picking men out of the water, you understand. I didn’t like that at all. No one liked it.
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