173 The Royal Canadian Legion MANITOBA & NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO COMMAND www.mbnwo.ca Post World War II career Lionel was on civvy street for about a year before realizing that he preferred life in the military. Rather than rejoin the Navy, on September 6, 1946, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was posted to RCAF bases Centralia then Trenton before deciding that he would rather be back in the Navy. He resigned from the RCAF on February 6, 1950 and rejoined the Navy at HMCS Prevost in London, Ontario on March 30, 1950. Lionel was not able to enter the RCN as an officer like he had been during the war, but began as an Able Seaman, although with the same service number that he had as an officer during the war. However, recognizing his previous training and service with the RCNVR and RCAF, the next day, Lionel was promoted to Petty Officer 2nd Class and was sent for training at HMCS Nadenon the west coast until May 11, 1950. From there, Lionel was posted to HMCS Gloucester south-east of Ottawa to specialize once more in HF/DF. In August 1951, he was sent to HMC NRS Aklavik to help establish a signals intelligence station there. During his time at the station, on August 15, 1951, he was promoted to Petty Officer 1st Class. He returned to Gloucester at the end of November where he remained until September 1952. His next posting was HMCS Churchill where he was promoted to Commissioned Officer (Special Branch) on July 24, 1954. After taking the Officers Divisional Course at HMCS Cornwallis in January 1955, Lionel was posted to HMCS Coverdale in February and promoted to Lieutenant (SB) Star on April 1, 1955. The following April, while serving as the Operations Officer at Coverdale, Lionel was promoted to Lieutenant (SB) and at the end of April 1956 was made Officer-in-Charge of HMC NRS Gander Newfoundland where he served until July 1959. The month before departing Gander, Lionel and his wife, Betty, were presented to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at the opening of Gander’s new international airport on June 19, 1959. Prince Philip, on seeing Lionel’s naval uniform, remarked, “What the hell are you doing here? We’re a long way from the sea!” Lionel hoped the Queen hadn’t overheard her husband’s salty language, as he briefly explained the naval radio station function to the bemused prince. From Newfoundland, Lionel returned to HMCS Gloucester as Operations Officer, remaining there until his next posting in August 1961 at HMCS Coverdale as Executive Officer. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander in November 1962 and the following July took over command of HMCS Churchill until March 21, 1965. During his time as CO of HMCS Churchill, Lionel also served as board chairman of the Fort Churchill military hospital and worked on several other committees during the winddown of the joint US/Canadian military base. Rather than accept the next posting that was offered to him, Lionel opted to retire, and spent the next three months at HMCS Chippawa in Winnipeg before leaving active service in July 1965. He knew that if he did not retire when he did, he would be required to give up the traditional uniform of the senior service and wear the green uniform of the amalgamated Canadian armed forces, which he would have loathed doing. Lionel and his family moved to Collingwood, ON and after enjoying five months of accumulated leave, he was honourably released from the RCN on December 3, 1965. Still a relatively young man when he retired from the Navy, Lionel worked for a brief period in 1966 as a civilian at the Edenvale Transmitter Station ‘bunker’ of Canadian Forces Base Camp Borden before a more challenging and interesting job came available as Expeditor for Collingwood Shipyard. This position was better suited to his administrative and project management skills and was a job he thoroughly enjoyed until he retired for the final time in 1983. Finally, Lionel was able to devote more time to his former hobbies: rock hunting, stone sculpting, reading, playing bridge, and fishing. In 1983, he and Betty moved to Winnipeg to be near some of their children but returned to Collingwood on Georgian Bay in 1985. As much as he enjoyed being near family and back in the prairie city he knew from his youth, Lionel realized how much he missed being close to a body of water. He was a member of The Royal Canadian Legion Collingwood Branch 63 for over thirty years. He and Betty remained in Collingwood until Lionel’s sudden death at home on November 27, 1992, at the age of 72. He was admired by all those who were fortunate enough to know him and much loved by his family who miss him still. KENNEDY, Lionel (continued)
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