WW II naval battle remembered in Ontario city May 4 [Video]

The 4,400 Canadian sailors, merchant mariners and air crew who lost their lives in the longest continuous military campaign in World War II will be honoured in Oshawa on the first Sunday of May.

The Battle of the Atlantic, which spanned the entire length of the war from 1939-1945, is celebrated every year by members of HMCS York, Toronto’s Naval Reserve Division.

This year, said Lieutenant Mark Scuse, HMCS YORK chose Oshawa as the destination city in an effort to “reach out to Canadians in the eastern GTA who may not be as familiar with the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Armed Forces as a whole.”

Naval Reserve divisions will parade through the city and conduct a ceremony at Memorial Park on May 4 to honour Canada’s key role in the campaign, ensuring that despite relentless German U-boat raids, Allied shipping between North America and Europe remained open throughout …