Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) Officers 1939-1945

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Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) Officers
1939-1945

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Note. In naval circles it is custom to refer to the commander of a vessel as Captain. More explanation & other abbreviations can be found at the help page.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A
top

Adam,
Joseph Murray
J.M. Adam ?
-

T/Lt.
09.11.1943 [0-1100]

08.01.1945
-
(07.1945)
Commanding Officer, HM MTB 466 (motor torpedo boat)

(05.1945)

HMCS Stadacona

Alcock,
Ian Ernest
I.E. Alcock
From Victoria, BC.
1914 ?
-
12.01.1969
Saanich, BC
[age 54]

T/A/S.Lt.
27.06.1940 [0-1420]

T/A/Lt.
20.03.1941

T/Lt.
?, seniority 20.03.1940 (reld > 04.1946)

DSC
10.07.1945
15.09.1945
Operation Baboon (operations on the Arakan coast 03.45): for service in hazardous reconnaissances in Burma

MID
22.01.1946
30.03.1946
Operation Confidence (operations off Malayan coast 06-08.45): for good service in reconnaissance work in the Malaya Peninsula

04.12.1940
-
1941
HMS Windflower (corvette)

(12.1941)

no appointment listed

served Combined Operations (Far East):

30.08.1943
-
(10.1944)
HMS Copra (Combined Operations pay & drafting office) (for landing craft duty)

(03.1945)

HMS Lanka (RN base, Colombo, Ceylon)

(06.1945)

Combined Operations Pilotage Party (COPP) 3

(04.1946)

HMCS Stadacona (RCN base, Halifax, NS) *

Amos,
Pierre Charles
P.C. Amos ?
-

T/Lt.Cdr.
01.07.1943 [0-1950]

(05.1945)

Naval Service HQ, Ottawa

Arbick,
John Henry
J.H. Arbick ?
-

T/Lt.Cdr. (A)
15.10.1943 [0-2544]

(05.1945)

Naval Service HQ, Ottawa

Atwood,
Lorenzo Lysons
L.L. Atwood ?
-

Cdr.
01.01.1945 [0-3340]

VD
19.01.1945
?

29.03.1944
-
(05.1945)
HMCS Prince Robert (A.A.A.S. [= auxiliary anti-aircraft ship?])

Audette,
Louis de la Chesnaye
L. de la. C. Audette 07.04.1907
Ottawa, Ont.
-
02.04.1995
Ottawa, Ont.

T/A/Lt.
27.09.1939 [0-3360]

T/Lt.
backdated 27.03.1938

A/Lt.Cdr.
?

T/Lt.Cdr.
01.01.1945

Lt.Cdr. RCN (R)
01.01.1945

22.08.1942
-
19.09.1942
Commanding Officer, HMCS Pictou (corvette)

20.09.1942
-
24.05.1944
Commanding Officer, HMCS Amherst (corvette)

25.07.1944
-
02.09.1945
Commanding Officer, HMCS Coaticook (frigate)

04.08.1945
-
18.11.1945
Commanding Officer, HMCS St. Catherines

B
top

Bailey,
John Harvard
J.H. Bailey ?
-

T/Lt.
29.12.1942 [0-3600] (reld < 04.1946)

05.02.1944
-
(06.1944)
Third Officer, HMC ML 112

16.09.1944
- (07.1945) Commanding Officer, HMC ML 097

Baillie,
James Wilton
J.W. Baillie ?
-

T/Lt.
30.12.1941 [0-3650]

served MTBs (RN)

Baker,
Graham McNaughton
G.M. Baker 1917 ?
-
28.03.1942
[age 25]
St. Nazaire
[Halifax Memorial]

T/S.Lt.
18.03.1940

T/Lt.
18.03.1941

MID
21.05.1942
St. Nazaire raid 28.03.42 *

* "For great bravery and unshaken devotion to duty in control of a gun in his motor launch, and afterward in trying to take a rope onto a jetty heavily enfiladed by intense enemy fire (during an attack on St. Nazaire)."

?
-
28.03.1942
Commanding Officer, ML 447

Baldwin,
Patrick Alexander G.B.
P.A.G.B. Baldwin ?
-

T/Lt.
22.12.1942 [0-3980]

(06.1944)

Commanding Officer, HM MTB 431 (motor torpedo boat) (RN)

Balfour,
Harold Wilson
H.W. Balfour ?
-

Cdr.
01.07.1943 [0-4000]

A/Capt.
01.12.1944

Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE
?
?

VD
?
?

01.12.1944
-
(05.1945)
Commanding Officer, Royal Canadian Naval Barracks, Halifax [HMCS Stadacona]

Bampton,
George Edwin
"Joe"
G.E. Bampton ?
-

T/Lt.
09.11.1943 [0-4150]

served MTBs (RN)

(05.1945)

HMCS Stadacona

Barlow,
Clement Vernon
C.V. Barlow ?
-

T/Lt.
09.11.1943 [0-4500]

25.02.1945
-
(07.1945)
Commanding Officer, HM MTB 464 (motor torpedo boat)

Beament,
Thomas Harold
T.H. Beament 23.07.1898
Ottawa, Ont.
-

T/Lt.Cdr. (retd)
02.08.1936 [0-5090]

A/Cdr.
01.07.1943

VD
?
?

(05.1944?)
-
(05.1945)
Policy and Plans Section, Canadian Naval Mission Overseas [HMCS Niobe]

Beeman,
John Henault
J.H. Beeman ?
-

T/Lt.
09.11.1943 [0-5390]

served MTBs (RN)

Commanding Officer, HM ML 65 (motor launch)

(05.1945)

Canadian Naval Mission Overseas [HMCS Niobe]

Bell,
Ian Hunter
I.H. Bell 1918
-
[2001/2002?]

T/A/S.Lt.
28.04.1939 [0-5620]

T/A/Lt.
28.04.1940

T/Lt.
28.04.1941

T/A/Lt.Cdr.
01.01.1944

T/Lt.Cdr.
01.01.1945 (reld 03.10.1945)

MID
08.06.1944
HM's birthday 44

specialized in Navigation

31.08.1939
-

HMCS Nootka (minesweeper)

20.09.1940
-
23.09.1941
on delivery team of USS McCook (destroyer), renamed HMCS St. Croix (destroyer)

24.09.1941
-
05.01.1942
Commanding Officer, HMCS St. Croix (destroyer)

19.04.1942
-
27.09.1942
Commanding Officer, HMCS Swift Current (minesweeper)

30.09.1942
-
11.10.1942
Commanding Officer, HMCS Ville de Quebec (corvette)

12.10.1942
-
21.08.1944
Commanding Officer, HMCS Alberni (corvette) (sunk)

19.03.1945
-
(05.1945)
HMCS St. Hyacinthe (RCN Signal School)

(07.1945)

no posting listed

Bell-Irving,
Henry
H. Bell-Irving ?
-

T/Lt.Cdr.
11.09.1939 [0-5760]

T/A/Cdr.
?

DSC
?
?

16.11.1944
-
(07.1945)
HMS Shrapnel (RN base, Southampton) (miscellaneous duties)

served MTBs ?

Bell-Irving,
Richard Morris
R.M. Bell-Irving
Son of Richard and Kathleen H. Bell-Irving, of Vancouver, British Columbia; husband of Sally May Bell-Irving, of Vancouver.
?
-
18.03.1945
(KIA)
[Halifax Memorial, panel 13]

T/S.Lt. (E)
01.01.1944

?
-
18.03.1945
HMCS Guysborough

Bennet,
John Archibald
J.A. Bennet ?
-

T/Lt. 04.09.1939

served MTBs

Berkeley,
Henry Robert Anthony Cheyne
H.R.A.C. Berkeley 1923 ?
-
16.03.1944
(KIA) [age 21]
[Coxyde Military Cemetery, Belgium]

T/S.Lt.

- 16.03.1944 HM MTB 417 (motor torpedo boat)

Berlin,
...
[Berlin,
Abraham David ?] ?
-

T/Lt. (E)

[T/Electrical Lt. (01.05.1944) ?]

served MTBs

Bernard,
George Clarence
G.C. Bernard ?
-

T/Lt.Cdr. 01.01.1943 [0-6090]

A/Cdr. 01.01.1945

15.03.1943 - (05.1945) Commanding Officer, HMCS Fort Ramsay (depot ship, Gaspe, Que.) & Naval Officer-in-Charge and Commander Superintendent, Gaspe

Bishop,
Lennox Craig
L.C. Bishop
?
-

T/Lt.
31.12.1941 [0-6650]

DSC
14.11.1944
Op. Neptune, Normandy 06.44 *

DSC
26.12.1944
Op. Neptune, Normandy 07.44 **

* "For courage, leadership and determination in close action with the enemy while serving in Light Coastal Craft."
** "For gallantry, skill, determination and undaunted devotion to duty during the landing of Allied Forces on the coast of Normandy."

served on HMS Castleton (American lend/lease Destroyer) and then to St. Christopher's for MTB training

26.03.1944
-
24.02.1945
Commanding Officer, HM MTB 464 (motor torpedo boat)

25.02.1945
-
06.03.1945
HMCS Niobe (D/S) for MTB Flotilla

07.03.1945
-
09.04.1945
Commanding Officer, HM MTB 464 (motor torpedo boat)

04.06.1945
-
(06.1945)
HMCS Stadacona (depot ship, Halifax, NS) (for disposal under training)

09.11.1945
-

demobilized

Blandy,
Walter Stairs
W.S. Blandy ?
-

T/Lt. 01.08.1944 [0-7170]

Lt. 01.02.1945

Cdr. RCN 1950s

21.11.1944 - (05.1945) MTB Flotilla, Canadian Naval Mission Overseas [HMCS Niobe]

28.08.1945 - (04.1946) HMCS Glace Bay

transferred to RCN

(1959) Commanding Officer, HMCS Beacon Hill

Bogue,
Jackson de la Cour
J. de la C. Bogue ?
-

T/Lt.Cdr. 01.01.1943 [0-7390]

T/A/Cdr.

21.10.1940 - (05.1945) Staff Officer Operations, Operations Division, NSHQ (Ottawa) [HMCS Bytown]

Bonnell,
Charles Ernest
"Chuck"
C.E. Bonnell ?
-
08.01.1943
[age 33]
(KIA)

T/A/Lt.
27.09.1939

DSC
06.01.1942
attack on enemy 03.11.41

Citation: "For courage and skill when an enemy convoy was attacked by our light Coastal Forces." 20.10.1937 RCNVR Company, Toronto Sup/Reserve

(09.1941)
-
(11.1941)
Commanding Officer, HM MTB 218 (motor torpedo boat)

?
-
08.01.1943
HM Subm P311 (mined Straits of Bonifacio) [HMS Titania]

Bonnycastle,
Charles Humphrey
C.H. Bonnycastle 26.12.1904
Winnipeg, Man.
-

Cdr.
01.07.1942 [0-7500]

VD
?
?

01.08.1944
-
(05.1945)
Executive Officer, HMCS Cornwallis (training establishment, Cornwallis, NS)

BorrAdaile,
Edward Litchfield
E.L. Borrodaile ?
-

T/A/Lt. 21.09.1940 [0-7600]

T/Lt. ?, seniority 21.09.1939

T/A/Lt.Cdr. 01.01.1945

19.11.1940 - (05.1943) Department of the Director of Unexploded Bombs [later: Bomb Disposal] [HMS President] (for duty outside Admiralty)

17.05.1943 - (05.1945) Bomb Disposal Section, Division of Warfare and Training, Naval Service HQ, Ottawa

Boulton,
Angus George
A.G. Boulton ?
-

Lt.Cdr
? [0-7830]

Cdr.
01.01.1945

DSC
?
?

04.12.1942
-
02.03.1944
Commanding Officer, HMCS Annapolis (destroyer)

01.03.1945
-
(06.1945)
Senior Training Officer, HMCS Somers Isles (work up base, Bermuda)

Bourke,
Rowland
R. Bourke ?
-

T/Lt.Cdr.
01.09.1939 [0-7860]

A/Cdr.
01.01.1944

VC
?
?

Distinguished Service Order DSO
?
?

Bracken,
John Bruce
J.B. Bracken
From Burnaby, B.C. [?]
13.12.1911
-

T/A/Lt.
05.10.1939 [0-8210]

T/Lt.
?

T/Lt.Cdr.
01.01.1945 (reld < 04.1946)

(02.1941)

no appointment listed

01.09.1943
-
06.1945
HMCS Prince Henry (landing ship, infantry)

20.06.1945
-
(06.1945)
on staff of Captain (D), St John's, Nfld. [HMCS Avalon (RCN depot, St John's, Nfld.)]

Brock,
Ernest Reginald
E.R. Brock ?
-

Capt.
01.01.1942 [0-8870]

Cdre. 2nd cl.
25.05.1944

CBE
?
?

VD
?
?

Brock,
Jeffry Vanstone
"Jeff"
J.V. Brock 29.08.1913
Vancouver
-
05.01.1997
Kingston, Ont.

S.Lt.
1934 [0-8900]

A/Lt.
20.02.1936

Lt.
20.02.1936

A/Lt.Cdr.
01.07.1941

T/Cdr.
01.07.1944

Cdr. RCN
1946, seniority 01.07.1944

Capt. RCN
01.01.1950

Cdre. RCN
03.01.1957

R.Adm. RCN
01.02.1961

Distinguished Service Order DSO
?
?

DSC
?
?

CD
?
?

1940

HMS King Alfred (RN training establishment)

1940

First Lieutenant, HMS Berkshire

(1941)

Commanding Officer, HMS Kirkella

Commanding Officer, HMS Ranunculus

Commanding Officer, HMS Stonecrop

(1942)

Commanding Officer, HMS Bazely

spare escort commander, Western Approaches

1945

SO 6th Canadian Escort Group

1945

SO Western Naval Reserve Divisions

1946

transferred from RCNVR to RCN (rose to the rank of R.Adm.)

Brock,
John
J. Brock ?
-

T/Lt.
12.10.1939 [0-8890]

T/A/Lt.Cdr.
01.01.1945

06.10.1942
-
17.08.1943
Commanding Officer, HMCS Baddeck (corvette)

10.04.1944
-
(06.1945)
Commanding Officer, HMCS La Hulloise (frigate)

Brown,
George Henry
G.H. Brown ?
-
01.1982

TS.Lt.
? [0-9450]

T/Lt.
04.01.1943 (reld < 04.1946)

17.05.1943
-
(06.1944)
HMCS Chaleur (RCN base, Quebec)

10.07.1944
-
(07.1945)
HMCS Quesnel (corvette)

Brown,
Grant Cullen
G.C. Brown ?
-

T/Lt.
01.06.1941

18.10.1943
-
15.06.1944
Commanding Officer, HMCS Baddeck (corvette)

Brown,
Thomas Jackson
T.J. Brown ?
-

T/Lt.Cdr.
01.01.1943

Buntain,
George Hedley
G.H. Buntain ?
-

T/Lt.Cdr. (retd)
01.04.1931 [0-10370]

VD ?
?

Burdon,
Thomas Holland
"Tom"
T.H. Burdon

his career in his own words
23.08.1919
Saint John, N.Br.
-

T/S.Lt.
01.04.1941? [0-10420]

T/Lt.
01.01.1942

01.01.1941
-
31.03.1941
[first] Officers' Training Class at Royal Roads, B.C.

30.06.1941
-
(08.)1942
HMCS Camrose (corvette) (already posted to it while under construction)

1942
-
1943
small anti-submarine course, Halifax (also as teacher)

26.04.1943
-
03.02.1944
Anti-Submarine Officer, HMCS Columbia (destroyer)

06.02.1944
-
07.1944
big anti-submarine course at Anti-Submarine School [HMCS Cornwallis (training establishment, Halifax, NS)] (also as a teacher)

03.07.1944
-
(07.1945)
First Lieutenant, HMCS Leaside (corvette)

01.10.1945
-
03.1946
Discharge Officer, HMCS Brunswicker (Saint John Naval Division, N.Br.)

Burk,
Charles Arthur
"Bones"

Married; two sons, four daughters.
17.09.1916
-
06.1997
Montreal
[age 81]

T/S.Lt.
30.12.1940

T/Lt.
17.09.1941 (resigned 25.04.1945)

DSC
02.05.1944
4 E-boats damaged Nore 14.02.44

DSC
14.11.1944
action assault area 26.07.44

DSC
26.12.1944
Operation Neptune

MID
04.05.1943
action E-boats Nore 07.03.43

MID
30.01.1945
attack convoy Nore 01.11.44

Joined the navy at HMCS York as Ordinary Seaman in 1939 after graduating from the University of Toronto and trained in Toronto in 1939 to 1940. He was then sent as an Ordinary Seaman (OD) to the RN to train at HMS Raleigh in Cornwall. Commissioned on 30 February 1940. After training at Davenport Barracks, he was posted to HMS New Market (USN lend-lease Destroyer). In 1941 he went to King Alfred for Officer training as an Acting Probationary Temporary Sub-Lieutenant. To St. Christopher for Coastal Forces training.

3rd Officer, MGB 101 (motor gun boat)

05.11.1941
-
(12.1941)
First Lieutenant, MGB 14 (motor gun boat) [HMS St Christopher (Coastal Forces training establishment, Fort William)]

(03.1943)

Commanding Officer, MGB 17 (motor gun boat)

17.04.1943
-
(12.1943)
Commanding Officer, MTB 442 (motor torpedo boat)

(02.1944)

Commanding Officer, MTB 439 (motor torpedo boat)

28.02.1944
-
17.09.1944
Commanding Officer, MTB 461 (motor torpedo boat)

acting Senior Officer, 29th MTB Flotilla ?

04.10.1944
-
29.01.1945
Commanding Officer, MTB 491 (motor torpedo boat)

He was a President of the Naval Officers Association of Canada and of the Montreal Branch of NOAC.

Burke,
Cornelius
"Corny"
C. Burke

Son of Stanley Burke, a pioneering businessman and one of the founders of Pemberton Securities, the largest stockbroking firm in Western Canada.
Married 1st (1939) Wendy Bell-Irving (died); three sons, two daughters.
Married 2nd (1977) Margo Osborne.
02.09.1916
Vancouver, BC
-
25.04.1999
Vancouver, BC

T/A/S.Lt.
18.03.1940 [0-10520]

T/S.Lt.
1941, seniority 18.03.1940

T/Lt.
18.03.1943
?, seniority 18.03.1941

T/A/Lt.Cdr.
< 07.1945

T/Lt.Cdr.
01.07.1945 (reld 21.01.1946)

DSC
30.05.1944
24.06.1944
action Adriatic coast Italy 0144

DSC
23.01.1945
03.02.1945
coastal actions Adriatic 08-09.44

DSC
24.04.1945
15.09.1945
attack on the Island of Lussino 03.12.44

MID
11.07.1944
09.09.1944
E-boat sank Mediterranean 05.04.44

Education: Shawnigan Lake School, Vancouver Island; University of British Columbia

09.1939

HMCS Discovery (RCN base, Vancouver, BC)

03.1940

HMS King Alfred (RNVR officers' training establishment, Hove & Lancing, Sussex) [sailed on the Duchess of Atholl and smuggled his wife, Wendy (sister of Brigadier Budge Bell-Irving), on board.]

05.1940

went to Le Havre with demolition specialists to blow up docks and harbour installations just before the evacuation from Dunkirk

1940
-
1940
HMS Chitral (armed merchant cruiser) (for 3 months)

26.09.1940
-
(02.)1941
First Lieutenant & Navigator, HM MASB 42 (motor anti-submarine boat) [HMS Drake IV (accounting base, Devonport)] (based at Fowey)

18.08.1941
-
(12.1941)
First Lieutenant & Navigator, HM MGB 17 (motor gun boat) [HMS St Christopher (Coastal Forces training establishment, Fort William)]

20.12.1941
-
(08.1942)
HMS Minos II (Coastal Forces base, Lowestoft) (for 5th MGB Flotilla):

12.1941
-
1942
Commanding Officer, HM MGB 90 (motor gun boat) (based at Felixstowe & Dover)
[this boat burned to the waterline when a rating cleaning the Lewis gun fired a shell that hit a box of 20mm shells which exploded causing a major fire]

1942
-
1942
Commanding Officer, HM MGB ... (motor gun boat) (20th MGB Flotilla) (based at Lowestoft)

12.1942

went home to Vancouver for Christmas

18.02.1943
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