Crossing the Atlantic Ocean

Heroes Remember

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean

Interviewer: Do you remember anything in particular about the crossing to England? Oh! We were told to sleep in our clothes, just take your boots off. There was a German broadcaster called Lord Ha-Ha and he used to broadcast everyday in an effort to sap the morale of the Brits and everybody else and halfway across he announced, “The 5th Armoured Division is at sea. They think we don’t know they’re there, but we know they’re there. And you will never arrive in England!” I remember that. I also remember a terrible storm. We went very far north almost up to Iceland to get away from the U-boats and we hit a gigantic storm. There were about 1,500 men on board. They couldn’t feed three meals a day. They didn’t have the capacity, so they fed two meals a day. And the day the storm started, the next morning, I went in for breakfast. There were three people in for breakfast. I remember that very well. Interviewer: Mr. Finestone, at that time, the Battle of the Atlantic was raging and the U-boats were running up impressive scores. Lord Ha-Ha has announced that the 5th Armoured Division isn’t going to make it to England. What was the mood of the men? How was their morale? Not as bad as you would think. We had joined the army. We knew what had happened in the Battle of France. We knew what had happened to the Poles and to the Belgians. We knew we were going to a maelstrom and the fact that people said it was bad, well, we knew it was bad. I don’t think, it did not have a negative effect noticeable on any of the men that I knew or on myself.

Mr. Finestone describes the crossing to England and the efforts of a German broadcaster, Lord Haw-Haw to sap the morale of the soldiers.

Bernard J. Finestone

Mr. Finestone was born in Sacramento, California, and moved to Montreal when he was ten months old. His father served with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery during the First World War. Mr. Finestone joined the COTC while he was studying at McGill University and when the war broke out he was in officer training. Mr. Finestone served as a tank commander in Italy and during the Italian Campaign, he was severely wounded. Mr. Finestone is an active speaker. He speaks to young Canadians about his military experiences and being a Jewish veteran.