After 71 years, a 91-year-old veteran has reunited with the ship that once took him to war.
Larry Hartman quit high school to join the Navy during the Second World War. He served as the telegrapher for HMCS Sackville from 1942-1944, during the Battle of the Atlantic.
“Thinking about how at my age in Grade 10, he just up and left, it’s crazy, but it’s really cool,” said Hartman’s grandson, Michael Mastracci. “I’m proud to say that I’m his grandson.”
Hartman’s son and daughter brought the veteran to Halifax from Vancouver to see his old ship, the last of Canada’s 123 corvettes, for the first time since 1944.
“We knew him growing up as kids. This is a chance to know him before he got married and really what he did,” said Candace Hartman.
“I thought, just getting my dad together to do this, was very emotional,” said Ray Hartman.
As Hartman showed his family his cabin and posed for a photo to recreate one taken of him long ago, the memories started coming back, including the time his crew spotted a U-boat on the surface off Newfoundland.
“It came right alongside us and I was about 10 feet away, so I got a good view of it,” recalled Hartman.
He said the U-boat captain maneuvered the submarine close to HMCS Sackville in order to get under its gun, but to no avail.
“Managed to get the boat just gently tipped over to the left, so we were bearing on the boat,” he said. “All I saw was green and blackish smoke as we put a large hole through its conning tower.”
Hartman also stopped at the ship’s action station, where he said he once launched one of the luckiest shots ever fired.
“When the depth charge went overboard, we heard a tremendous explosion, and it was later that I figured out that the depth charge hit near or onto a torpedo that was approaching us,” he recalled.
Plans are in the works to erect a $200-million memorial, honouring those who fought and died in the Battle of the Atlantic, with HMCS Sackville serving as the centrepiece.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Rick Grant
