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HMCS
MONTREAL 336
DND/RCN
Photo
Crown
copyright
Click
on the above photo to view the full image
The
ship's gunshield art is different than the ship’s badge. The badge which incorporates aspects of the city of
Montréal depicts a stylized
mountain bordering a river, and superimposed upon the mountain, a coronet of
fleur-delis and maple leaves. The river represents the St. Lawrence River;
the mountain, Mount Royal, in the midst of the city.
The
gunshield art combines elements from the ship’s badge and that of HMCS
MONTRÉAL K319, a River class frigate that served with the Royal Canadian
Navy during the Second World War. On 17 December 1944 she rescued survivors
from German submarine U 1209 which struck rocks in the neighbourhood of Wolf
Rock (southwest of Land's End) and sank shortly afterwards. U 1209 carried a
complement of 51 of whom 42 survived. The Commanding Officer Oberleutnant
zur See Hülsenbeck, died of a heart attack on board HMCS MONTRÉAL K319.
The
story behind HMCS MONTRÉAL's gunshield art: I was the Exchange (Canteen)
Manager on HMCS
MONTRÉAL, and it was coming up to her 10th
anniversary. I held a contest for designing a badge for the 10th
anniversary in hopes of drumming up some sales for the canteen. I
submitted my design as well ..... and it won!!
I
was planning on selling the artwork as stickers in the canteen - so I hired
the graphic artists at Golden Silkscreening to touch up my work ..... and
then to another company to have stickers made. While I was talking
with the company making the stickers, I heard that Combat wanted the artwork
on the ship's gun and the Air Det wanted it for their engine covers on the
Sea King. The company was able to size up the badges for the Sea King
and gun mount.
The
badge was unveiled on our 10th anniversary during a trip to Montréal,
Quebec. - Submitted
by PO Mitch Cormier
(1)
PO2 Mitch Cormier standing beside his gunshield art design (2)
HMCS Montreal's Sea King proudly displays the ships gunshield art on her
engine covers (3) PO2 Karl Melchoir stands beside the badge that is
mounted on the door to the Chiefs and POs. PO Melchoir created the
mould for casting the badges.
Historical
Note: Anecdotal evidence indicates that HMCS MONTREAL K319 had
gunshield art resembling the patch (which has been incorporated in PO
Cormier's artwork on HMCS MONTREAL 336), but to date, no photo of the
artwork has been found.
The
story behind this jacket patch:
The
patch was given to my mother-in-law by a rating in 1941 or '42 when she was
a Wren W/T operator at Ste Hyacinthe. Apparently, the radio station had a
complement of 100 Wrens and 3,000 men so the girls always had a date, but
not necessarily with the guy they wanted. Her daughter - my wife, Kathie,
also LCdr (W), RCN(R), ret'd, - showed it to to one of the speakers at a
shad Senior Officers' Conference at Royal Roads in 1984. That gentleman was
apparently adamant that this patch (embroidered felt though it is) was
actually stitched [painted] onto a canvas gun cover - that is, not a jacket
patch.
Courtesy
of Ron Csomany, LCdr, RCN(R), ret'd
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