Barb Brouwer
Contributor
Dean Rownd showed his love of Canada and its people by enlisting in the Royal Canadian Navy in 1942.
Recovering from a broken hip and a stroke that has affected his speech, the alert 94-year-old Navy veteran said he would have gone to war again to protect Canada鈥檚 freedom.
Rownd was working in a Vancouver machine shop when the owner鈥檚 son enlisted. Rownd, who was 17 at the time, followed suit.
鈥淚t was the thing to do,鈥� he remembers simply.
Rownd was sent to Halifax and assigned to the frigate HMCS Saint John as an oilman. His job was to keep the ship鈥檚 steam engines running smoothly.
Built in Montreal, the frigate was commissioned on Dec. 13, 1943. She arrived at Halifax seven days later and embarked on a trial run to Bermuda the following month, according to a Government of Canada online military history site.
Named for Saint John, NB, she served primarily as a convoy escort in the Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted from 1939 to 1945. Following initial trials, the Saint John was based in Halifax until April 1944 when she joined an escort group in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
The Saint John headed to Newfoundland to join a convoy of about 150 ships. Rownd remembers that one of them was lost to a German submarine during the crossing of the Atlantic.
On Sept. 1, 1944, the Saint John and HMCS Swansea sank a German submarine off the western coast of Cornwall, England.
In December 1944, his ship was assigned to escort convoys on the North Russia or Murmansk run to and from Kola Inlet near Murmansk.
The extremely dangerous route into the Arctic Ocean was used to deliver desperately needed materials 鈥� much of it from North America 鈥� to the Soviet Union.
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The Saint John was present on D-Day. Rownd recalled the ship being out on the ocean off Juno Beach but not engaging in action.
鈥淭he chief engineer, he disappeared. He had a chance to jump ship and go home to his wife and kids,鈥� he recalled.
鈥淲e were sent to the Channel Islands and we thought the Germans were gone. That was a nasty surprise. We were blowing smokescreens and getting out of there as fast as we could.鈥�
Rownd also remembered being on one of six ships travelling in single file as they patrolled off the coast of France where the Germans established a submarine base.
鈥淥ne evening we thought we had a sub. It was on the top of the water,鈥� Rownd said with a grin.
鈥淲e were ready to attack but nothing was there. At daybreak, we discovered it was a large ball of foil.鈥�
On Feb. 16, 1945, HMCS Saint John destroyed its second submarine, this time in Moray Firth, off the northern coast of Scotland.
鈥淲e were using hedgehogs, shooting them off the bow,鈥� Rownd said of the British designed, forward-throwing anti-submarine weapon that fired up to 24 spigot mortars ahead of a ship.
鈥淭hen we had to reverse fast to get out of the way of the explosion.鈥�
Despite dangerous assignments and some close calls, including one bomb that exploded near the frigate鈥檚 stern, Rownd and the Saint John survived the war and returned home.
As a crew member of the Saint John, Rownd was awarded Canadian battle honours鈥攖he Volunteer Service Medal, the Defence Medal and the War Medal 1939 - 1945, as well as the Arctic Star, Atlantic Star and 1939-1945 Star.
鈥淎ll the guys I knew are gone now,鈥� said a nostalgic Rownd, who turns 95 on Dec. 5.
While some of the details have dimmed and speech is somewhat difficult, Rownd鈥檚 love of Canada and family endure without question.
newsroom@saobserver.net
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