A Visit to London

It was an awful mess. We stayed in the Canadian Legion Motel. I think it was in Houston Square. We had single beds in the room. There was six of us from the ship there and some of those. The bombs the Jerries were throwing at London at the time were fearsome stuff. You’d hear them go over and that was it. There wasn’t a sound until the thing hit. And the plate glass window that was in the room we were in, would just go in and out, and in and out - even though they had it all taped up. Needless to say, we put our mattresses under the bed and put our great coats up over the bed and that’s where we slept at night. And we went to visit Saint-Paul’s Cathedral and I can remember walking up towards it. There was not a building standing around it. Nothing, it was just rubble. And I thought, there’s somebody looking after that place. And you could see it for blocks, just sitting there all by itself. And we got inside, we couldn’t go up in the dome of it because there had apparently been a near miss and it had cracked the dome in one spot and they felt it was unsafe. But we stood inside and looked at this place. It was something else. I think I felt a little humble after I paid that visit. And another day, we decided to see Buckingham Palace. So when we got there, there was a Canadian regiment doing guard duty and they saw our Canada ... the one sentry who was pacing up and down inside the fence, saw our badges and he walked along beside us and he said, “The King and Queen are coming out shortly. When you hear the bell sound, the gates will open and there will be five cars coming out.” No, he didn’t tell us how many. He said, “There will be a procession and if you get up there by the gates, maybe you’ll get a chance to see them.” So we all got up there by the gates and took off our Burberries and everybody straightened up. And as soon as we heard the bell, holy, we all snapped to attention! And as they come out, we saw them and we saluted. And the Queen, she looked around the King and waves her hands at us and we thought, we’ve see it all now. There’s nothing more to see!

Mr. Irwin describes visiting London, seeing St. Paul’s Cathedral and saluting their Royal Highnesses, the King and Queen.

Robert Irwin

Mr. Irwin was born in Toronto, Ontario on April 9, 1921. He lost his father in a car accident while a boy. Because his mother had to work, he and his brother were taken under the wing of the local YMCA, where they both became excellent competitive swimmers. Once old enough, Mr. Irwin worked on the lake boats on Lake Superior. Shortly before enlisting, he also worked for General Electric, where he was promised a job upon his return from active service. Mr. Irwin trained as a wireless operator and, after doing shore duty in the Halifax communications centre, joined the frigate HMCS Prince Rupert, which was assigned to convoy duty. Mr. Irwin spent his entire time at sea aboard this vessel. Notable events during his duty include a possible sub kill off Ireland and the rescue of survivors from a torpedoed British warship in the same action. After leaving the service, General Electric made good on its promise, and Mr. Irwin pursued a 40 year career with them. He now resides in London, Ontario.