Convoys Escort in North Atlantic

Heroes Remember

Convoys Escort in North Atlantic

Transcript

The North Atlantic was rough because there was some of the bad storms. The roughest time I had, I was on, just for a short while, worked out of Scapa Flow on the Orkney Islands in Northern Scotland and I went on two convoys there and in that convoy escort group there was Canadians, British and Russian ships and the one convoy went to Murmansk and the other convoy went to Archangel and at that time Germany had taken over Norway so if the weather was good, you had to contend with the submarines in the North Sea and the aircraft from Northern Norway. If the weather wasn’t good, it was terrible, worse than the North Atlantic. Now I saw it when it wasn't too bad but most of the time we were there we were mainly good weather so we had the submarines and the aircraft. Most of my convoy escort work was the North Atlantic. I made two other trips to the Mediterranean, one to Gibraltar and one to Malta, other than that my time was North Atlantic, convoy escort

Description

Mr. Nordlund recalls his service on the North Atlantic on convoy escort and the degree of roughness at sea.

Hough Nordlund

Mr. Hough Nordlund was born July 17, 1922 in Kamsack, Saskatchewan. After his elementary school years, his family moved to Ponachi, Saskatchewan where he graduated from high school. Then Mr. Nordlund joined the Navy and trained on the HMCS Queen Regina. After initial training he was drafted to the ship, Prince Henry, doing offshore and inshore service around Vancouver Island. His main role aboard these ships was radio operator, receiving messages through morse code. During his service time in the navy, Mr. Nordlund sailed on other ships, the HMCS Kootenay and Alberni. Mr. Nordlund was an active soldier during the D-Day invasion and occupied the role of skipper onboard the landing craft LC3 taking troops to Omaha Beach. Mr. Nordlund finished his service onboard the HMCS Kootenay and had a few runs to the Murmansk before leaving the navy. After discharge Mr. Nordlund served with the militia and worked with the Federal Government in the Fisheries and Oceans Department, retiring with 38 years service.

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