Ceremonies To Commemorate Anniversary Of Sinking Of WWII Corvette

The HMCS ALBERNI Museum and Memorial in Courtenay is dedicating a new memorial to the crew of the WWII Royal Canadian Navy corvette.

Today, August 21st, marks the 80th anniversary of her sinking. A ceremony is happening at the museum’s main facility on Cliffe Avenue at 1130am.

Another ceremony was held earlier this morning at the St. Lawrence Peace Garden in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, England, the closest point on land to Alberni’s final resting place.

The Courtenay ceremony will be the cornerstone of the Museum’s summer exhibit “59”, which introduces the public, through photographs, letters, personal artifacts, and other items, to the 59 sailors who lost their lives on this day in 1944.

The exhibit is currently showing at the Museum’s Education Centre through November 11th.

HMCS ALBERNI was built at Yarrows Shipyard in Victoria in 1940.

She served for over three years in the Battle of the Atlantic, protecting convoys between North American and Europe and Africa before being torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat. 31 of her crew survived.

For more information, visit HMCS ALBERNI Museum and Memorial.