George Clarens Bernard 1900-1982

 

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.