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RAY HALL - THEN AND NOW
Veteran recalls serving
country on the Atlantic
Ray Hall will remember the fallen
JOHNSTOWN A life-long love affair with water and the desire
to be different is what prompted a young man in Belleville to join the Navy
in search of adventure.
Today Ray Hall lives in Johnstown with his daughter Ruth and was reflecting
on his years of service during the days leading up to Remembrance Day, Thursday,
Nov. 11.
Last weekend, he received his 35-year pin for membership in the Cardinal
branch of the Royal Canadian Legion at Branch 105's annual Armistice Banquet.
In 1977, Hall was awarded a lifetime membership for his commitment to
the branch of which he has served in a number of ways including as its president
for a number of terms. He is the only remaining lifetime member of the branch.
Last year, Hall read the names of the fallen during Remembrance Day services
at the Cardinal Cenotaph.
"It's not something I think about a lot," Hall said of his
years with the Navy, including his service during World War II on the North
Atlantic. "It's just something that I did."
When Hall decided to join the Navy in 1933 he had no idea he would end
up being part of a world war.
After finishing high school in his home town of Belleville he had gone
to work in the Canadian National Railway's telegraph office. It was while
working there the 19-year-old decided to indulge his lifelong love of the
water by joining the Royal Canadian Navy.
"There was an airforce base on one side of Belleville and the army
base in Kingston," he explained. "I wanted to be different.
"And I always loved swimming so looked forward to being out on the
water."
Hall went to Toronto for basic training then was shipped to Quebec to
be trained as a wireless operator.
After his training, he was stationed in Halifax then sailed out of there
on the HMCS Skeena when war broke out in 1939.
"We patrolled the North Atlantic and escorted merchant ships over
and back," he explained. "We were the Mother Hen for the merchant
ships."
As wireless operator on the ship, Hall's job was to listen for signals
from enemy ships so that other Allied forces in the area could be notified
of their presence.
His ship got into "a couple of skirmishes" during its many
trips across the Atlantic. During one, Hall took some shrapnel in a knee
and was admitted to hospital in England.
"On its way back, my ship was sunk by Germans," he said.
Hall was docked at a port in Northern Ireland when word came the war
was over.
"I remember when we heard it was over," he said. "But
it still didn't give you a feeling of relief until you were going home."
He did eventually go back home, of course, and that is when he met Fran,
the young woman who would later become his wife.
He had resumed working for CN where he'd see Fran, a secretary for the
railway, walk by every day.
"I liked what I saw," he smiled.
They married in Belleville in July 1948 where two of their children were
born. Hall was then transferred to Campbellford where the couple had two
more children.
A decade later, Hall was hired as a relief agent and "worked in
every station between Oshawa and Belleville" before moving to Bancroft
where their fifth, and final child was born.
In 1964, they moved to Cardinal where Hall worked for CN until the station
there closed. He was transferred to Brockville then Cornwall but kept his
family in Cardinal. He retired at age 55 then worked as a Commissionaire
for six years. Hall turned 77 in July.
Fran, who had been active in the Legion Ladies' Auxiliary in addition
to a number of other volunteer activities in the community, died in July
1998, just prior to what would have been the couple's 50th wedding anniversary.
Hall's daughter Ruth said it is important we continue to remember people
like her father who served their country during conflict.
"It's important the young people know what people like my father
went through," she said. "It's important we don't forget." |