199 Mum in a Halifax lab in 1943 Mum (middle) with the staff at RCN #2 Lab in St. John’s in 1944 Mum in Portugal Cove, Newfoundland, in 1945 My mother spoke little in my hearing about her experiences as a Lab Technician. However, I do have wartime photographs of Mum from Halifax and Newfoundland: While my wife, Gabrielle, and I were leafing through old family albums a few years ago, Gabrielle came across a fascinating document from my mother’s time stationed in St. John’s, dated 16 June 1945, a month after VE Day. It reads: I have no idea why my mother was chosen for this inspection. Perhaps the privilege was granted in appreciation for her work? Mum preserved the document; so, it clearly meant something to her, but she never mentioned it to me. U-190 had an interesting history. Launched in June 1942, U-190 took part in six war patrols, sinking two Allied vessels: the British cargo ship, Empire Lakeland, and the Canadian minesweeper, HMCS Esquimalt. The Esquimalt was the last Canadian vessel lost during the war, torpedoed near Halifax harbour on 16 April 1945 with 52 casualties. U-190 surrendered to HMCS Victoriaville off Cape Race on May 11th. Under Canadian command, she sailed into Bay Bulls on May 14th. For the next two years, U-190 served a training vessel for the Royal Canadian Navy, sailing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River. In a final symbolic act on 21 October 1947, Trafalgar Day, U-190 was painted in gaudy red and yellow stripes and towed to the spot where she had fired on HMCS Esquimalt. With reporters and photographers witnessing from nearby Canadian navy ships, U-190 was sunk by airborne rockets in a training exercise named Operation Scuttled. A painting by Tom Wood (1913-97), Official War Artist in the Royal Canadian Navy, depicts the German sailors being transferred from U-190 on 14 May 1945: German Prisoners Leaving Their U-Boat, Bay Bulls, Newfoundland
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