Veterans who served on HMCS Uganda/Quebec during the Second World War gathered in Charlottetown for a reunion on the weekend and laid wreaths during a Sunday service at the cenotaph in Charlottetown. Jack Cousins, left, of Essex, England, and Frank Carragher of Emyvale watch the ceremony. Cousins served on HMS Uganda for 14 months and Carragher served on the ship when it was HMCS Quebec. Guardian photo by Brian McInnis
Spanning from 1954-56, a crew of 907 young men sailed the world together on one of Canada’s most famous warships.
This past weekend, 52 years after the fact, the 80 remaining crew members of HMCS Uganda and later HMCS Quebec, the first Canadian warship to sail around the world and the only Canadian warship to fight against the Japanese, reunited in Charlottetown for a solid weekend of some rest, relaxation and
remembering.
Crew members arrived Friday, kicking off the reunion with a tour of the Gateway Village in Borden-Carleton.
They then spent the next two days touring the Island, visiting legions, various P.E.I. tourist spots and talking about the past.
“It was just wonderful,” said Fred Bradley of the weekend.
“It’s great seeing old shipmates from years back. They’re great guys, they’ve always been great guys,” he added.
Bradley, who lives in Mount Stewart, was one of the three Island crew members in attendance, along with Joe LeClair and Frank Carragher.
He said the reunion, something the crew does every two years, continues to be something he looks forward to time and time again.
But the weekend was not all fun and games.
Over the years, the remaining crew has gotten smaller and smaller, something the retired seamen took time to address Sunday morning during a memorial ceremony held at the cenotaph in Charlottetown where wreaths were laid in honour of deceased crew members.
“Shipmates are a family away from home,” Bradley said. “That family never stops supporting each other.”
As well, Bradley offered a special thanks to those friends who were simply not able to make the trip, in particular Janet Pierse, the wife of recently deceased former shipmate Desmond Pierse.
“She was so sorry she couldn’t be here,” he said. “But we remembered her in our prayers.”
Bradley said although he would have liked to have seen Janet, he doesn’t blame her for not making the trip.
“She’s 95 years old,” he laughed.

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