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In memory of those who have Crossed the Bar
Notre père, Raoul Bélanger, étant décédé il y a plus de 30 ans, mon frère et moi ne pouvons que nous rappeler que le peu d’anecdotes de son passage dans la Marine royale canadienne (MRC), qu'il a eu la gentillesse de partager avec nous dans ses dernières années. Malheureusement, comme tous les témoignages oraux dérivés de souvenirs, ceux-ci s'effacent inexorablement. Ceux qui restent, sans nulle doute, déformées par l'embellissement ou la minimisation, sont invariablement entachés par notre propre subjectivité.
Heureusement, il a conservé de nombreuses boîtes de photos de famille, ses documents de service militaire, quelques souvenirs et des photos de la période de la guerre. Les informations disponibles sur le site Web de « For Posterity's Sake » avec l’aide de Gary Weir, m'ont permis d'étayer certains de ses récits et de reconstituer une grande partie de sa carrière militaire. Cependant, je regrette ne pas avoir pris le temps, avant son décès, de conserver les histoires qu'il nous racontait sur sa vie et son séjour dans la MRC.
Raoul Bélanger est né le 19 juin 1921 dans le village de Clarence Creek, dans l'est Ontarien. Ses parents ont déménagé l'entreprise familiale au centre-ville d'Ottawa en 1927. La présence de la fonction publique et les vêtements de l'époque nécessitant souvent des réparations, la boutique de tailleur a permis à la famille de traverser l'ère de la Grande Dépression avec une relative aisance. Dans sa jeunesse, il demeurait actif en pratiquant des sports, notamment le cyclisme, le ski alpin et le ski de fond, le jogging, la gymnastique et l'haltérophilie.
Au début de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, mon père était employé par la société « Ottawa Car and Aircraft Limited » en tant que spécialiste des centrales à vapeur. Il s'est porté volontaire pour servir dans la MRC en 1943, suivant sa formation, il a été promu au rang de quartier-maître, ERA 4e classe dans la salle des machines de la frégate NCSM Kirkland Lake K337. Il est resté en service actif jusqu'à ce qu'il soit transféré à Ottawa en tant que divisionnaire au début de 1945, jusqu'à la fin de la guerre, en raison des problèmes de santé de son père, aidant sa mère à gérer l'entreprise familiale jusqu'à ce qu'il en prenne officiellement la direction en 1946.
Comme un reliquat de sa propension professionnelle dans la marine, il a alors remplacé une fournaise à charbon de style pieuvre de la fin du XIXe siècle, introduisant la technologie de l'ère de la vapeur, par une chaudière à mazout, y compris toute sa collection confuse de tuyaux, de soupapes, de jauges et de son fonctionnement byzantin, compris seulement des initiés., accompagné de tous les inconvénients qui en résultait. Tout cela était destiné aux presses à vêtements et au chauffage de notre logement loué juste au-dessus, jusqu'à ce qu'il vende l'entreprise en 1981.
Il a ensuite déménagé chez moi, à Gatineau, où il est demeuré actif socialement en se joignant au « Ottawa Navy Club », se gardant la forme en faisant du vélo, du ski de fond et aidant aux tâches ménagères jusqu'à son décès d'une crise cardiaque inattendue le 2 décembre 1991.
Mon frère et moi avons hérité de l'aptitude de notre père pour tout ce qui est d’ordre technique et scientifique. De plus, notre mère nous a initiés aux arts, notamment à la musique et à la littérature. Heureusement, nos parents n'ont pas réprimé notre curiosité précoce et notre spontanéité créative, nous laissant exploré librement tout ce qui piquait notre curiosité. Le bon sens d'antan voulait que l'interaction avec le monde naturel, en sollicitant tous nos sens par le biais d'objets physiques réels, nous permette d'exercer nos facultés, tout en acquérant des compétences pratique.
L'héritage de leur sollicitude nous a profondément influencés et grandement aidés dans la vie ultérieurement.
Pierre Bélanger 11 mars, 2022
Our father Raoul Bélanger having passed away over 30 years ago, my brother and I, can only recall the few anecdotes of his stint in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), he was kind enough to share with us in his latter years. Unfortunately, like all oral testimonies derived from memories, these fade away inexorably. Those left, most likely distorted by embellishment, or downplay, are invariably tainted by our own subjectivity.
Fortunately, he kept boxfuls of family photos, his military service documents, some memorabilia, and photos of the wartime period. The information available on “For Posterity’s Sake” Web site and Gary Weir’s help, allowed me to substantiate some of his accounts and reconstruct much of his military career. However, I do regret, not having taken time, before he passed away, to record the stories he recounted about his life and time in the RCN.
Raoul Bélanger was born June 19, 1921, in the Eastern Ontarian village of Clarence Creek. His parents relocated the family business to Centre Town Ottawa in 1927, the presence of the civil service and the garments of the period often requiring repair, the tailoring business allowed the family to weather the Great Depression era with relative ease. In his youth, he kept active practising sports, namely bike racing, downhill skiing, jogging, gymnastics and weightlifting.
At the beginning of WWII, my father was employed at Ottawa Car and Aircraft Limited, working as a steam plant specialist. He volunteered for service in the RCN in 1943, following his training, was promoted as petty officer, ERA 4th class in the engine room of the frigate HMCS Kirkland Lake K337. He remained in active duty until he was relocated to Ottawa on divisional strength in early 1945 until the end of the war, due to his father’s health issues, helping his mother run the family business until he officially took it over in 1946.
As a relic of his occupational propensity in the Navy, he then replaced a late 19th-century octopus-style coal-fired furnace, introducing steam age technology with an oil-fired boiler, including all its convoluted collection of pipes, valves, gauges, and resultant finicky operation, understood only by the initiates, with its attendant inconveniences. All intended for the clothing presses and heating of our rented accommodations, just upstairs, until he sold the business in 1981.
He then moved to my home in Gatineau, were he stayed active socially by joining the Ottawa Navy Club, and keeping fit by cycling, cross-country skiing and helping with the household chores until he passed away of an unexpected heart attack on December 2, 1991.
Both my brother and I inherited our father’s aptitude for all things technical and scientific. Furthermore, our mother introduced us to the arts, namely with music and literature. Fortunately, our parents didn’t stifle our early inquisitiveness and creative aptitudes, letting us delve in whatever piqued our curiosity. Yesteryears’ common sense was that interacting with the natural world by soliciting all our senses with actual physical objects, led us to exercise our minds acquiring knowledge, while gaining practical hands-on skills.
The legacy of their solicitude influenced us profoundly and helped greatly in later life.
Pierre Bélanger March 11, 2022
Ships served in: HMCS CARLETON - Enlisted 24 Mar 1943 as a Sto 1c, RCNVR. Commenced Active Service 31 Mar 1943 HMCS YORK - Served in York 02 Apr 1943 - 25 Jul 1943 as a Sto 1c, RCNVR DANFORTH TECHNICAL, Toronto, ON - for trades training while drafted to HMCS YORK * Trade transfer to ERA 5c 23 Oct 1943 HMCS NONSUCH - Served in NONSUCH 10 May 1944 - 23 May 1944 as a ERA 5c, RCNVR UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA, Edmonton, AB - for trades training while drafted to HMCS NONSUCH HMCS STANDARD COASTER - loaned from HMCS STADACONA c1943-1944 HMCS KIRKLAND LAKE - Served in KIRKLAND LAKE 27 Sep 1944 - 28 Jan 1945 as an ERA 5/c and A/ERA 4c, RCNVR. Rated A/ERA 4c 25 Jan 1945 HMCS CARLETON - Drafted to CARLETON 28 Jan 1945. On Divisional Strength 29 Jan 1945. On Active Service 21 Apr 1945 - 14 May 1945. Discharge on request - Compassionate Grounds - 14 May 1945 as an A/ERA 4c, RCNVR
(RB01-RB02) Portrait of Raoul Bélanger (RB03) Raoul Bélanger's cap, medals and bosn's call (RB04) Souvenir mug from Raoul's time in the navy (RB05) Instructions while awaiting call to Active Service
(RB06-RB07) Certificate of Service - pages 1 and 2 (RB08) Trades Training Certificate, Danforth Technical, Toronto, ON - dated Jul 1943 (RB09) Promotion to A/ERA 4c (RB10) Statement of Service
(RB11) Stoker Raoul Bélanger at the corner of Somerset-Lyon Ottawa c Mar-Apr 1943 (RB12) ERA Raoul Bélanger in HMC Dockyard Halifax (RB13) ERA Raoul Bélanger in front of the War Memorial in Ottawa (RB14-RB15) ERA Raoul Bélanger at the corner of Somerset-Lyon Ottawa c 1945
(RB16) Sailors fallen in on parade at an unknown location
Family photos
(RB17) Raoul Bélanger and his mother Lovina Provost (RB18) Raoul Bélanger and his future wife Jeanne Laplante circa 1943 (RB19-RB21) Jeanne Leplante on an unknown vessel on the Great Lakes or St. Lawrence Seaway
The wedding of Raoul Bélanger and Jeanne Leplante at Chénéville, QC - 14 Feb 1944
(RB22) Jeanne Laplante (RB23) Raoul Bélanger with his mother Lovina Prevost his father Ernest Belanger (RB24) Raoul Bélanger and his mother Lovina Prevost and Jeanne Laplante’s brother Jean-Paul
The wedding of Raoul Bélanger and Jeanne Leplante at Chénéville, QC - 14 Feb 1944
(RB25) Raoul Bélanger and Jeanne Leplante (RB26) Raoul Bélanger with his father Ernest and Jeanne Leplante with her father Napoléon (RB27) Raoul and Jeanne and the Bélanger and Laplante families
(RB28-RB29) Raoul Bélanger and Jeanne Leplante (RB30) Jeanne Leplante - taken on the corners of Somerset and Lyon streets in Ottawa (RB31) Jeanne Leplante with Madeleine Gaumond at the home of Maurice Gaumond and Antoinette Meloche on McNab's Island (RB32) Rachelle Gaumond (with Raoul) and Madeleine Gaumond (with Jeanne) at the home of Maurice Gaumond and Antoinette Meloche on McNab's Island. Antoinette is looking out the door behind them.
(RB32a) Jeanne LePlante on McNab's Island c1944
(RB33) Three brothers and their cousin reunite for the first time in 3 years - L-R: Hermile Gaumond, Lucien Gaumond, Maurice Gaumond and Raoul Bélanger - Le Droit, Ottawa, Tuesday 30 May 1944 (RB34) Original photo used in the newspaper article RB32 (RB35) Maurice Gaumond in Halifax (RB36) Brothers Maurice (left) and Lucien Gaumond, Halifax (RB37) Brothers Maurice (left) and Lucien Gaumond, Halifax
DANFORTH TECHNICAL Toronto, Ontario
Coppersmithing and Sheet Metal Trade Course at Danforth Technical, Toronto 05 Apr 1943 - 22 Jul 1943
(RB38) Sto 1c Raoul Bélanger, centre looking at the camera
HMCS STANDARD COASTER
(RB41) Jeanne Laplante and Raoul Bélanger aboard HMCS STANDARD COASTER - Halifax circa 1943-44 (RB42) Jeanne Laplante aboard HMCS STANDARD COASTER in Halifax harbour with HMCS TRANSCONA J271 passing in the background (RB43) Jeanne Laplante aboard HMCS STANDARD COASTER in Halifax harbour with HMCS SHERBROOKE K152 passing in the background (RB44) Jeanne Laplante aboard HMCS STANDARD COASTER in Halifax harbour with the Hospital Ship Lady Nelson alongside in the background (RB45) Hospital Ship Lady Nelson alongside in Halifax seen from HMCS STANDARD COASTER
(RB46) Stoker Belanger on a harbour craft heading to or from McNab's Island (RB47) Raoul Bélanger on HMCS STANDARD COASTER (RB48) Raoul Bélanger on the bridge of HMCS STANDARD COASTER (RB49) Raoul Bélanger up the mast on HMCS STANDARD COASTER (RB50) Ross, Gaumond, Bernier, Child, Bélanger and Inglis in the C.O.'s cabin on HMCS STANDARD COASTER - 27 Feb 1944
HMCS KIRKLAND LAKE
(RB51) HMCS KIRKLAND LAKE K337 (RB52) HMCS KIRKLAND LAKE card (RB53) ERA Bélanger on HMCS KIRKLAND LAKE K337 in Halifax, 03 Oct 1944 (RB54) ERA Raoul Bélanger on HMCS KIRKLAND LAKE K337 (RB55) Starboard side look aft at the boat deck on HMCS KIRKLAND LAKE K337
Various ships
(RB56) HMCS OTTAWA H31 - Official RCN photo (RB57) Royal Navy Destroyer HMS RICHMOND G88 passing McNab's Island (RB58) Unknown minesweeper in Halifax harbour
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