William Knowles

Bill Knowles served his country between 1942 and 1945 as a member of the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve, following in the footsteps of family that served at Passchendaele and Vimy in World War I, and two brothers that served during World War II.  He enlisted on October 27, 1943 in Toronto at 19 years of age. Bill was shipped that day to Quebec City for training. He recalled marching on the Plains of Abraham, and swimming practice in full uniform for preparations should you need to abandon ship. He was posted to Halifax, and then sailed to England and then to Scotland, where he served at 3 different barracks; then to Glasgow where he served as a cook on the Humberstone, a Castle Class Corvette, on escort duty between Scotland and Canada.

Bill returned to Halifax, and was discharged at Exhibition Place in Toronto. 

A memorable story Bill told that clearly had impact on him….the ship we went to England was to take a southern course, but a submarine was sighted in the distance following after dark. So we headed north. We woke up in the morning off the coast of Iceland. That same ship, The Andes, was sunk on its way back to Canada where there were many, many killed. We had been lucky to outrun it.

We Will Remember Them