Survivors, rescuers mark World War II sinking
PAUL MCLEOD, METRO HALIFAX
July 09, 2008 05:00
It’s been 63 years since the last Canadian ship to be sunk in World War II, the HMCS Esquimalt, went down outside of Halifax.
Yesterday survivors of the wreck, their rescuers and one of the crew of the German submarine that sunk the Esquimalt all gathered for a memorial on the ocean near Chebucto Head.
“We heard a big explosion. Next thing you knew you were in the water,” recalls George Taylor, who was 19 when the Esquimalt was hit by a torpedo April 16, 1945.
He climbed aboard a nearby life raft and waited about five and a half hours before he and his surviving shipmates were rescued by the HMCS Sarnia.
“The last time I was in this spot the engines stopped and I was scared skinny,” said Sarnia navigating officer Lou Howard, 21 years old then and 84 now.
“We were a sitting duck and we knew there were torpedoes out there. But we had a job to do and we did it. Then as soon as we got them onboard, full speed ahead.”
In total, 27 men were saved while 13 perished.
After a prayer service was done on the navy tug yesterday, three wreaths were thrown overboard into the ocean. One simply said, “Wish we could have got there sooner.”
“If they’d only got there sooner… then we could have saved more than the 27 we saved. It was a tragedy,” said Harris. Communications problems at the dockyard caused hours of delay before Sarnia was finally sent to the scene.
For Taylor, the memorial is a chance to say thanks to those who pulled his crew out of the water.
“It’s bringing back memories,” he said. “You think about people who have gone. You think about a lot of things, how lucky you are.”
Enemies then, friends now
One of the people memorializing the sinking of the HMCS Esquimalt was someone who helped sink it.
Werner Hirschmann was 21 when his German submarine U-190 sunk their opponent. He looks back now from a very different perspective.
“The fact that those Canadian veterans and I, we were in the war to kill each other and today we are best of friends, I take that as an indication that war in itself, no matter where, no matter when, is an absurdity,” said Hirschmann.
As World War II ended, U-190 surrendered.
Hirschmann became a prisoner of war for a year in Newfoundland.
After returning to Germany and getting a university degree, he saw few opportunities.
Remembering how fondly he thought of Newfoundland, he returned to Canada.
Now he’s a considered an honorary member of the veterans’ association of HMCS Esquimalt.
Lou Howard, sailor on the HMCS Sarnia, which rescued the Esquimalt crew, yesterday described Hirschmann as a “gentleman in the true sense of the word.”
“I was a 21-year-old navigating officer looking for Werner, who was underneath in U190.
“At that time we were enemies and now we’re not. We’re friends, and that’s the way the world should be,” said Howard.
http://www.metronews.ca/halifax/local/article/80886
Survivors, rescuers mark World War II sinking
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman. 
