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A Royal Canadian Navy Historical Project
In memory of those who have Crossed the Bar
SPINNEY, Wilbur Ramsay, Lt, 0/69250, RCNVR, died 03 Jun 1945, HMCS ONTARIO - Son of George W. (C.M.G.) and Martha Maud Spinney, of Westmount, QC
Lt Spinney died of injuries received while attached to HMCS. Ontario in a Northern Ireland port. He buried in the Brookwood Military Cemetery , Surrey, UK
Born in Montreal, on June 27th, 1918, he completed his education at Westmount High School and entered the Bank at Westmount branch in October, 1936. He later served at Drummond & St. Catherine Streets branch and at McGill & St. Paul Streets branch in Montreal, enlisting in the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve from the latter office in October, 1940. After completing a course at Halifax Naval School he was appointed to the Crovette HMCS Moose Jaw. He soon saw action, as on her first trip the Moose Jaw, accompanied by HMCS Chambly, encountered and sank a German submarine. During the next two years he was engaged in convoy duty in North Atlantic and Mediterranean waters and took part in Operation "Torch", the initial landing in North Africa. wishing to specialize in gunnery he took courses on the subject at Cornwallis, N.S. and subsequently became an Instructor at Esquimalt, B.C. Later, after taking additional courses at Chatham and Portsmouth, England, he was attached to the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Black Prince for service in the Pacific, and was Gunnery Officer in that ship while she was operating against the Japanese off Sumatra. He returned from the Far East in April, 1945, and was attached to HMCS Ontario, a new Canadian cruiser undergoing trials at Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was severely injured in an accident aboard ship during the trials and died in the Canadian Neurological Hospital, Basingstoke, England, on June 3rd, 1945, only a few days after the war ended.
Ships served in: HMS BLACK PRINCE
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For Posterity's Sake 
