Adam Prudhomme
Editor
J.J. O’Neill Catholic School Grade 5/6 students teamed with students across the pond in France to say ‘merci’ to the brave sailors aboard the WWII Canadian destroyer HMCS Athabaskan.
In honour of the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the Athabaskan, Napanee students painted poppies onto rocks, which were taken to France by local author and artist Sherry Pringle. After they were signed and sprayed to be preserved, the rocks were given to French students to be placed in the cemeteries that mark the final resting place for some of the 128 crew members who died in the sinking on April 29, 1944. A ceremony marking the occasion was held over the weekend in France, near the coastline where the ship was torpedoed on that fateful night. Many of the bodies of the soldiers were buried in the closest town to which they washed ashore.
Rocks painted by Napanee students placed on Plouescat Beach in France. Submitted photo.
In a show of appreciation for the sacrifice made by Allied soldiers, France hosts a year ceremony to the Battle of the Atlantic.
France students Eva, seven-years old (pink coat) and 10-year-old old Maude in blue, with Napanee’s Sherry Pringle laying stones at Sibiril Cemetery, Brittany, France. Submitted photo.
“There’s going to be school children placing the rocks and we’re going to thank them with Canadian pins and stickers,” said Pringle, who met with the Beaver just a few days before departing for the trip. She enlisted the help of her grandson Jackson Pringle and his friend Brunswick Kincade to paint a few more rocks to take with her. “The (teacher organizing the ceremony in France) said to me, we take this very seriously.”
The night of her sinking, the HMCS Haida responded to the distress call and rescued 44 crew members. Another 83 were taken prisoner by German minesweepers in what was perhaps the largest capture of naval Canadian prisoners of war during WWII.
The Haida survived the war and now resides at the Hamilton as a museum. In anticipation of her trip, Pringle reached out to the museum in hopes of obtaining a Canadian flag that has flown on the ship-to which they obliged, complete with an official certificate to denote its significance. The flag was also delivered to France and will be flown at the cemeteries.
Local author and painter Sherry Pringle has always been fascinated with WWII history, particularly the Athabaskan, which she has painted here. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
For Pringle the trip was an extremely sentimental one as her uncle, Maurice Waitson, just 19-years-old at the time, died aboard the ship. Though she never met him, she was inspired to tell the stories of those onboard that fateful night, which she compiled into her book All the Ship’s Men-HMCS Athabaskan Untold Stories, which was first published in 2010. She has also painted the Athabaskan in several of her works.