Torpedoed Part 1 of 2

Heroes Remember

Torpedoed Part 1 of 2

Transcript

But about that time Ottawa decided that Canada was entitled, Canadians like myself who had been over there for two years, should be entitled to foreign service leave and so I, I arranged to come home on foreign service leave and, and I guess left HMS Britannia about, about early October, I suppose, and came to London and I was going to come back with a friend of mine, Jim George, and I booked us passage in the Queen Elizabeth. And he said to me, "Don, Queen Elizabeth is comfortable but that'll get me home to Toronto two weeks before my wedding and I want that two weeks after my wedding." So, I cancelled this booking in the Queen Elizabeth and booked us passage in a freighter called the SS Winnipeg II, and so we, we sailed from Liverpool about the 14th of October and on the 22nd of October I was sitting in the bar having a pink gin before dinner and "Boom!", we were torpedoed. And this, this was 600 miles from Londonderry and 630 miles from St. John's, Newfoundland, right bang in the middle of the Atlantic.

Description

Mr. Sutherland talks about his return to Canada on foreign service leave aboard a freighter called the SS Winnipeg II when they were torpedoed while having dinner.

Donald Marshall Sutherland

Donald Marshall Sutherland, was born in Toronto on the 22nd of June 1916. His parents couldn't afford to send him to university and so he worked at the Bank of Commerce. After the war broke out, he joined navy as an ordinary seaman. Canada didn't have any means of training naval sailors at that time; so he was sent to England to be trained. He was involved mostly in mine dismantling. When he returned to Canada he finished his studies.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 02:11
Person Interviewed:: Donald Marshall Sutherland
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Branch:: Navy
Rank:: Officer
Occupation:: Mine Disposal

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Torpedoed Part 1 of 2

Heroes Remember