George Clarens Bernard
1900 - 1982
George Clarens Bernard was my
grandfather. I realized nothing has been written or recorded about
him. He was born on February 1, 1900 in Negishi, Yokohama, Japan, son
of Charles Burton Bernard (1853-1947) and Ura Lida (1870-1910). He
had two older brothers and an older sister. Also a younger sister and
a half brother from his father's second marriage. Despite being born
in Japan, that was a secret he kept his entire life and only
discovered by my grandmother after he had passed.
Much of his early life is unknown but
he was sent to Eastbourne, Sussex, England for education at around
age 6. He stayed with his aunt Grace who married William Towner.
Their granddaughter was actress Margaret Towner who had a bit part in
Star Wars - Tae Phantom Menace and her son is actor Clive Francis
At the age of 16, he lied about his age
and joined the Royal Navy and was assigned to HMS Derwent, a River
class destroyer as a midshipman. On May 2, 1917, the Derwent struck a
mine laid by U-boat UC-26 in the English Channel off LeHavre, France
and sank, killing 58 of the crew of 70. Of course, my grandfather was
the one of the few survivors.
After the war he headed for India to
get involved in the lucrative tea business, returning to England on
November 20, 1922. In 1923, he headed for Canada arriving September
23, 1923 in Quebec. He was headed for his older brother John's place
in Toronto. At some point after arriving in Toronto, he was invited
to a costume Halloween party in the east end of Toronto. Not having a
costume, he simply put his shirt collar on backwards and went as a
church minister. This caught the eye of another party attendee, Mary
Monica Rollit (1897-1992), as her father was a minister in Quebec.
They started dating and, on June 30, 1928, were married in Christ
Church Cathedral in Montreal. They settled in Toronto first on
Duplex just south of Lawrence and later at 656 Oriole Parkway. My
father Julian Rollit Bernard was born July 25, 1929 and my uncle
Charles Michael Brodrick Bernard on March 2, 1933.
My grandfather joined the Royal Naval
Canadian Volunteer Reserve at HMCS York in Toronto and went to work
for Canadian Maufacturers
Association where he stayed till he retired in 1969. When World War
Two came along, the RNCVR was called upon for active duty in
the Navy. My grandfather had built up a lot of seniority over the
years and held the rank of Commander and was assigned to HMCS Fort
Ramsay in Gaspe, Quebec as base commander. HMCS Fort Ramsay was
started in 1940 and inaugurated on May 1, 1942. My grandmother and
the kids stayed in Toronto during the war except for summer breaks
when they travelled by train to Gaspe (see "The Day I Became a
Railfan" by Julian Bernard also in this Blog). They stayed the
first year at Baker's Hotel in Gaspe and in later years in the
Commander's residence on the base.
HMCS Fort Ramsay was strategically
located at the mouth of the St. Lawrence river in a well protected
bay. It's purpose was to patrol the mouth of the St. Lawrence
searching for U-boats and protect the merchant marine ships heading
to Britain. To do this, they were assigned a fleet of Fairmile B
Motor Launches as the 71st and 79th ML Flotilla, a total of 12 ships.
Fairmiles were a British designed wooden ship, 112 ft long and 17 ft
wide. Most of them were built by Ontario cottage country boatbuilders
in Orillia, Midland, Bracebridge, Gravenhurst and Penetanguishene. A
requirement was they needed to fit through the locks of Trent Canal.
An anti submarine net was stretched between two sand bars just
outside the harbour. Gun emplacements were on the hills of the bay
out to the Gulf. They can still be toured today.
One story my grandfather used to tell
was one day, during maintenance of one of the Fairmiles, a fuel leak
resulted in an explosion. Both my father and grandfather recounted
looking out the window and seeing debris of the ship spiralling
upwards and back down. As Commander, my grandfather went to inspect
the site. As he recalled much of the super structure of the ship had
been blown off. He stepped down into the hold and stepped on
something soft. It was the body of one of crew or maintenance team.
As well as patrolling for U-Boats, the
Fairmiles would escort the merchant ships coming down the St.
Lawrence to the convoy staging points. There the larger Corvettes out
of Halifax would take over the escort role to off the coast of
Ireland where the Royal Navy would take over. My father recalled a
story of the Fairmiles escorted to the rendezvous point and the
Corvettes were no-shows. The Fairmiles were then tasked going all the
way to Ireland. The Fairmiles were not designed for the North
Atlantic and the crews were ghastly seasick.
Another story my father recalled was,
while staying on the base, being woken up one night by one of junior
personnel assigned to my grandfather and been told to quickly dress
and follow. In the darkness down at the dock a surrendering U boat
was being brought in. The U boat docked and the German sailors were
quietly marched off. My father also told of the family dog, Duke, an
Irish Setter who travelled to Gaspe with them. Apparently Duke had no
concept of tides and enjoyed sitting on a favorite rock in the harbor
that he could walk to in low tide and watch the birds. The tide would
come in and Duke would panic and howl. My father said, more than
once, a base personnel would come to my grandfather's office and say,
"Sir, your stupid dog is stuck on the rock again".
Generally my father was assigned to wade out to the rock and drag
Duke back to shore.
In the late 70s, on a May Sunday, dad
loaded us kids in the car and picked up my grandfather and went down
to Bloor St around Jarvis for the Battle of the Atlantic parade. My
grandfather was in full uniform and after chatting with some of the
vets, was invited onto the podium to receive the salute. Probably one
of the best days of his life.
Dad and I travelled to Gaspe in 1989,
his first time back since 1945 and toured what was left of the base.
At that time, the Commander's house was still standing but empty. The
base barracks had been converted into apartments, and the dock area
was being used for boat repairs, launching and storage. A subsequent
trip in about 2001 revealed that most of the remaining base
structures were gone. Also in that trip, dad and I went to the Gaspe
Legion to enquire about my grandfather and HMCS Fort Ramsay history.
While there were a few artifacts on display what was most notable was
in the stairwell to the lower room at the Legion was a large picture
of my grandfather. Looking at satellite images of Gaspe today, it
appears nothing remains of the base.
After the war, my grandfather returned
to his job. In 1963, I came along and I remember my visits to
grandparents fondly. One distinctive memory is the smell. My
grandfather smoked Craven A cigarettes and grandparents house always
smelled like Craven A, percolated coffee and toast. When I became a
teen, I went to grandparents weekly and did chores which included
numerous stops at the shops on Eglinton and usually a garden chore or
two like lawn cutting or hedge trimming. Lunch followed.
My grandfather was diabetic and had a
heart condition and took Nitro pills regularly. My grandparents moved
around 1980 to an apartment on Eglinton. I continued my weekly chores
for them but my grandfathers condition worsened. In his final months,
he was bedridden but really enjoyed me reading the latest on the
Falkland Island War from the newspaper to him. He died on June 20,
1982 and is buried in Stanbridge East, Quebec.
Back to his Japanese heritage. This was
always a secret and wasn't revealed till after he passed. He had
always claimed to be born in England of English descent. While it was
known that my great grandfather had lived for awhile in Japan on
business a a tea merchant, it was always assumed he went back to
England to start a family. Despite being half Japanese, my
grandfather didn't really look Asian but he did have a
nonidentifiable look to him, like Yul Brynner. A hard-to-peg
heritage. Of course, if his heritage was known during WW2, he likely
would not have been Base Commander and possibly could have been sent
to an Internment Camp. As the details were discovered, on the flip
side, my great grandfather remained in Japan during WW2 and was
imprisoned and his assets seized. In his late 80s at the time and not
much of a threat, some German friends in Japan, arranged for his
release and he spent the war under house arrest in the German friends
home where he died in 1947.
My grandfather had a younger half
brother from a subsequent marriage by his father who stayed in Japan
and raised a family. There have been recent trips by my family to
Japan to meet and be hosted by the Japanese cousins.
