Canada’s Merchant Navy honoured at Winnipeg ceremony [Video]

Wreaths were laid at the Winnipeg Cenotaph Tuesday to honour a sector of fallen Manitobans who died while convoying essential goods and personnel during the Second World War.

Sept. 3 marked Merchant Navy Veterans Day in Canada – an occasion to honour the 12,000 volunteer men and women who crewed vessels that carried essential personnel, equipment and supplies across the globe while pursued by enemy U-Boats during the war’s Battle of the Atlantic.

Dwight MacAulay, honorary consul for the United Kingdom, said members of the Merchant Navy paid a higher price per capita than any other discipline in the Second World War, including the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

“These merchant ships weren’t armed – they just were loaded with clothing, foods, military materials and military personnel as part of the Allied war effort,” he told CTV News Winnipeg.

“For six years, they sailed across the Atlantic, really in very …