Over 100 RCN ships engaged in the D-day operation June 6, 1944.
Tribal Class Destroyers
HMCS HAIDA
HMCS SIOUX
HMCS HURON
HMCS ATHABASKAN
Destroyers
HMCS ALGONQUIN
HMCS CHAUDIERE
HMCS GATINEAU
HMCS KOOTENAY
HMCS OTTAWA II
HMCS QU’APPELLE
HMCS RESTIGOUCHE
HMCS SASKATCHEWAN
HMCS SKEENA
HMCS ST. LAURENT
Armed Merchant Cruisers
HMCS PRINCE DAVID
HMCS PRINCE HENRY
Frigates
HMCS CAPE BRETON
HMCS GROU
HMCS MATANE
HMCS MEON
HMCS OUTREMONT
HMCS PORT COLBORNE
HMCS SAINT JOHN
HMCS SWANSEA
HMCS TEME
HMCS WASKESIU
Corvettes
HMCS ALBERNI
HMCS BADDECK
HMCS CALGARY
HMCS CAMROSE
HMCS DRUMHELLER
HMCS KITCHENER
HMCS LINDSAY
HMCS LOUISBURG II
HMCS LUNENBURG
HMCS MAYFLOWER
HMCS MIMICO
HMCS MOOSE JAW
HMCS PORT ARTHUR
HMCS PRESCOTT
HMCS REGINA
HMCS SUMMERSIDE
HMCS WOODSTOCK
Minesweepers
HMCS BAYFIELD
HMCS KENORA
HMCS VEGREVILLE
HMCS GUYSBOROUGH
HMCS MULGRAVE
Plus..
8 Motor Torpedo Boats from the 29th Flotilla
9 Motor Torpedo Boats from the 65th Flotilla
11 Infantry Landing Craft from the 260th Flotilla
12 Infantry Landing Craft from the 262nd Flotilla
7 Landing Craft from the 264th Assault Flotilla
8 Landing Craft from the 528th Assault Flotilla
8 Landing Craft from the 529th Assault Flotilla
NAZI MINESWEEPER sunk by Canadian Army tank fire on December 1944 off the Dutch coast.
Members of HMCS UGANDA crew collecting artifacts from the wreck of the German battleship ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE
Route of ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE from 27th of August to the 13th of December 1939.
Battleship ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE was scuttled in the South Atlantic off the coast of Montevideo, Uruguay.
Battleship ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE
5.9 inch gun (secondary armament) from the wreck of the ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE (Alex Bajkov in photo)
Gun director from the wreck of the ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE (Alex Bajkov in photo)
A STORY FROM THE SINKING OF HMCS ATHABASKAN
L. R. Johnston
29 April 1944
HMCS ATHABASKAN was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel.
1 May 1944
Mrs. M. Johnston, mother of Lawrence R. Johnston, AB, RCNVR was sent a telegram stating her son was missing after the sinking of HMCS ATHABASKAN.
3 May 1944
Mrs. Johnston received a letter from Minister of National Defence, Naval Services stating Lawrence R. Johnston, AB, RCNVR was reported missing from HMCS ATHABASKAN and also stated he may have been taken prisoner by German forces.
15 January 1945
Letter from Naval Services stating Lawrence R. Johnston, AB, RCNVR stating no news has been received regarding her son and therefore he is presumed to be dead.
8 June 1950
Mrs. Johnston received a letter from the Naval Service of Canada stating that the body of Lawrence R. Johnston, AB, RCNVR was found buried along the coast of Finistere, France, at Brignogan, Plouescat. France at the time was under German occupation and in most cases all identification was take from the bodies by the Germans. The citizens of the French towns looked after the burials and held funeral services.
It is confirmed from the dental records from HMCS ATHABASKAN that one of the bodies exhumed from those graves was of your son Lawrence R. Johnston, AB, RCNVR. His body is buried in Plot 1, Row B, Grave Number 26 in the Plouescat Civil Cemetery, Plouescat, Finistere, France.
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