| VANCOUVER ISLAND (October 15, 1941)
The 9,472 ton Canadian freighter was sunk in the north Atlantic by the U-558 (Oblt. Günther Krech) This was her first voyage laden with war goods for Britain. There were twenty one survivors. One hundred and four lives were lost including thirty three of her sixty four crewmembers, eight Armed Guard Gunners and thirty-two passengers. The Vancouver Island was the ex-German merchant ship Weser captured on September 25, 1940, by HMCS Prince Robert (Captain Ooshakoff RCN) off Manzanillo, Mexico. The Weser was taken to Esquimalt, British Columbia, refitted for service in the Canadian Merchant Service and renamed Vancouver Island. (The U-558 was sunk on July 20, 1943, in the Bay of Biscay by depth charges from a British Halifax and an American Liberator. There were only 5 survivors from her crew of 50)
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On weald of Kent I watched once more
Again I heard that grumbling roar
Of fighter planes; yet none were near
And all around the sky was clear
Borne on the wind a whisper came
'Though men grow old, they stay the same'
And then I knew, unseen to eye
The ageless Few were sweeping by
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