Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Joseph Frederic Andre Blais
In memory of:
Leading Seaman Joseph Frederic Andre Blais
October 25, 1944
Military Service
V/4777
20
Navy
Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve
H.M.C.S. Skeena
Additional Information
Son of Aime and Stella Blais, of Montreal, Province of Quebec.
Commemorated on Page 251 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.
Burial Information
HALIFAX MEMORIAL
Nova Scotia, Canada
Panel 11.
The HALIFAX MEMORIAL in Nova Scotia's capital, erected in Point Pleasant Park, is one of the few tangible reminders of the men who died at sea. Twenty-four ships were lost by the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War and nearly 2,000 members of the RCN lost their lives. This Memorial was erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and was unveiled in November 1967 with naval ceremony by H.P. MacKeen, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, in the presence of R. Teillet, then Minister of Veterans Affairs. The monument is a great granite Cross of Sacrifice over 12 metres high, clearly visible to all ships approaching Halifax. The cross is mounted on a large podium bearing 23 bronze panels upon which are inscribed the names of over 3,000 Canadian men and women who were buried at sea. The dedicatory inscription, in French and English, reads as follows:
1918-1945
IN THE HONOUR OF
THE MEN AND WOMEN
OF THE NAVY
ARMY AND MERCHANT NAVY
OF CANADA
WHOSE NAMES
ARE INSCRIBED HERE
THEIR GRAVES ARE UNKNOWN
BUT THEIR MEMORY
SHALL ENDURE.
On June 19, 2003, the Government of Canada designated September 3rd of each year as a day to acknowledge the contribution of Merchant Navy Veterans.
Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Digital Collection
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Grave marker – Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me -
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Newspaper clipping – From the Toronto Star November 1944. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me -
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Newspaper clipping – From the Montreal Star. Submitted for the project Operation Picture Me -
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Newspaper Clipping – Leading Seaman JOSEPH FREDERIC ANDRE BLAIS was one of 15 sailors who died when a sudden night gale drove the destroyer HMCS Skeena ashore on Videy Island, two miles off Reykjavik Iceland, in the late evening/early morning of October 24-25, 1944. This list contains 14 names. The name of Leading Seaman JOSEPH FREDERIC ANDRE BLAIS is missing from this list, published in the Globe and Mail, November 18, 1944. -
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HMCS Skeena -
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Newspaper Clipping – Details of the loss of HMCS Skeena on October 25, 1944 were only made public in May 1945. Newspaper Clipping from the Globe and Mail May 17, 1945 -
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Newspaper Clipping – Details of the loss of HMCS Skeena on October 25, 1944 were only made public in May 1945. Newspaper Clipping from the Hamilton Spectator, May 16, 1945. Part 1 -
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Newspaper Clipping – Details of the loss of HMCS Skeena on October 25, 1944 were only made public in May 1945. Newspaper Clipping from the Hamilton Spectator, May 16, 1945. Part 2 -
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Memorial – This memorial is located in Iceland. -
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Memorial – This is a propeller that was on HMCS Skeena which was sunk in Iceland on October 25, 1944. -
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Newspaper Clipping – From the Montreal Gazette. Submitted for the project, Operation: Picture Me
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