Veteran Charles Ray Champion

Charles Ray Champion was born on October 17^th, 1919. He was welcomed into the world by his parents, Charles and Bertha Jane Champion. His father, Charles, worked as a barber but the family also owned a small farm. The couple brought Ray up along with his sister, Amy, and his five brothers, Bruce, Harry, John, George, and Ralph, in a three bedroom house in the community of Malpeque.

Growing up, Ray and his siblings attended a public school, Lady Fanning, which was found just down the road from their house. The boys began helping their father out on the farm at young ages. Ray started helping out when he was only 8. He continued his school career for eight more years before quitting at the age of 16 to work as a clerk at Mr. Peter McNutt’s general store. This was not his dream job for Ray had ambitions to become a mechanic.  However these ambitions were interrupted when Ray and four of his brothers decided to join the war effort.

At the age of 19, on December 8^th, 1938 Ray enlisted into the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve. His brothers, Harry and Bruce, were both enlisted in the Canadian Army, and served in Europe. His brother John joined Ray in the Navy while George was a part of the Merchant Marines, serving in Africa. It was only the youngest of the six brothers, Ralph, only nine at the time, who remained at home to help on the farm. Ray was trained on the Stadacona as an Able Seaman. Between the time he enlisted to the time he was declared to be lost at sea, he served as an Able Seaman on multiple different ships. These included the Stadacona, Saguenay, Ulna, and the Halonia which was later known as the Raccoon.

The Halonia was originally used as a private yacht by a millionaire, New York jeweler. R.A. Van Clief sold the Halonia to the Royal Canadian Navy on June 22, 1940. It became known as the Raccoon and had a crew of 33 ratings and 4 officers. The Raccoon became one of the many ships whose mission was to patrol for German U-boats around the St. Lawrence River and Gulf. Since the ship was not originally made as a navy vessel it was not equipped with the regular navy devices. They tracked U-boats by observing the waters for streamline waves. Their only other means to detect submerged U-boats was an on-deck Asdic set. However this gave the same warning for U-boats as it did for a school of cod or upcoming layers of cold water. To prepare the Raccoon and its crew for battle, the ship was painted grey and armed with a machine gun and a depth charge launcher for attacking submarines. The crew was not given a radio-telephone so their only means of communication was by Morse code.

On September 6^th, 1942 the Raccoon, along with eight other merchant ships begin a mission to patrol for German U-boats. The nine ships also had the task of escorting supply ships from Quebec City to Sydney, Nova Scotia. It was nightfall, and visibility was limited so the crew members of the Raccoon had to rely on their Asdic set to detect any U-boats. However, on September 7^th, at 1:12 am, their Asdic set failed them and the Raccoon was struck down by a German U-boat torpedo. The Raccoon’s lack of a radio-telephone left any surviving crew members isolated from the other Canadian ships. This lead the other ships to believe that the noise from the torpedoes was the Raccoon depth-charging the U-boat. That prevented any of the Canadian ships from trying to search for any surviving crew members of the Raccoon. The night the Raccoon was struck down, all 37 men aboard passed away. Little of the boat was ever discovered and only the body of the captain, R.H. McConnell, was ever found.  

Similar to many other young men involved in the war effort, Ray did not return home. He gave his life away for this country before he was able to achieve his desire to become a mechanic, find a wife, or have a family. He was the only one of his four other brothers who did not return home. Ray made the ultimate sacrifice for his country and for this I am forever grateful.

-Jaime MacLean