Stoker

V/31090

Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve

Age 22

Son of Carman Walter and Rachel Horley of Sarnia, ON

Halifax Memorial panel 12

In a letter from Joe Horley, brother of Wallace dated May 9, 2005:

“I'm not sure if you're interested in this little story of mine but, I think its pretty interesting.  I'll start off with a little family background first.  My Mother and Dad met and married in 1917 in Saskatchewan.  She had emigrated with her mother and 6 siblings from Scotland in 1912 at the age of 13.  My Dad had gone west (from Lambton county, Ontario) during the 1st war to help with the harvesting.  They had 3 children in the West, (Evelyn, Alastair and Wallace) then moved back to eastern Canada in time for Floyd (1923) to be born in Cochran in N. Ontario.  They moved back to Lambton county and farmed and had 5 more children, Frances, Joe, Jane, Ruth and Bill.  In 1939, our family moved from Port Lambton to Sarnia. 

        During these years my brothers Al, Wallace and Floyd all sailed on the Great Lakes.  So, they were pretty well used to the water.  Consequently, it was no surprise that they all joined up in the Canadian Navy;  Floyd, in the RCN as a telegraphist, served on the Buckingham and spent a lot of his time in Esquimalt.  Alastair, a CPO, served on the Prince Henry and the Gatineau and Wallace spent time on the 'light ship' guarding Halifax harbour before going to the Alberni.

 

The Story.

 

In the late 1950's, my wife and I and our children lived in suburban Sarnia and we became good friends with our neighbour across the street.  He worked for a meat packer (Burns Packers) and had just received word that he was being transferred to Burlington, On.  Well, they had to pack up their possessions, sell their house, buy a house in Burlington etc. etc.  Anyway, they needed a place to stay for a couple of days so we invited them to bunk in at our place.  So, one evening Bruce and I were sitting up watching an old movie on the TV (Corvette K225)  (the Kitchener).  We were also having a couple of drinks, and he mentioned to me that his brother was on a corvette that had been sunk by a German submarine.  Well, naturally, I said that I too had a brother that 'went down' with his ship.  So, Bruce's brother turned out to be Ted Lawson who was one of the survivors of the Alberni sinking.  This conversation took place after we'd been friends for several years.  The Lawson's were from Chatham, On. which is about 50 miles from Sarnia..”  - Joe Horley