Battle of the Atlantic remembered with parade through Souris

Prince Edward Island's naval reserve unit commemorated the Battle of the Atlantic Sunday with a parade through the streets of Souris.

Crew from HMCS Queen Charlotte and a cadet band marched from the Souris wharf, through town, to the Royal Canadian Legion on Main Street. 

Each year on the first Sunday in May, Canada and its naval community commemorate those lost at sea during the battle.

Lieutenant Navy Jim Smith is the training officer at HMCS Queen Charlotte.

"Because P.E.I. is such a close knit province we have the ability here, unlike other naval reserve units around the country, to get out within different communities and to show our colours in other places and to allow veterans from other communities to take part in our parade," he said.

"When I first came to the unit in 2012 we paraded up in Tignish and then we did one in Charlottetown and this year we're doing it in Souris."

Smith says there are three naval veterans in the Souris area. 

The Battle of the Atlantic began on Sept. 3, 1939, when a German submarine sank the Montreal-bound passenger ship SS Athenia west of Ireland.

Over 4,200 lives lost

The sinking killed 188 of those aboard, including four Canadians.

The Royal Canadian Navy's chief responsibility during the years-long battle was to escort merchant ship convoys. The first sailed from Halifax on Sept. 16, 1939, escorted by the Canadian destroyer St. Laurent.

By mid-1942, the Royal Canadian Navy, with support from the Royal Canadian Air Force, was providing nearly half the convoy escorts, and afterwards carried out the lion's share of escort duty.

Training, air cover, special intelligence, and more and better equipment turned the tide in mid-1943, although the battle is considered to have lasted until the end of the Second World War.

Over 4,200 Canadian sailors, airmen and merchant mariners lost their lives during that time trying to maintain shipping routes linking North America with Europe.