Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 169 John Joseph McCabe Service No: V94918 John Joseph McCabe was born on 18 December 1926 in Truro, Nova Scotia to Lawrence Frederick McCabe and Mary Lillian (née: Coldwell) McCabe. He was married to Irene (née Ripley) McCabe. John was the second youngest of seven children - five boys and two girls. At the age of 18, John enrolled for wartime military service in 1944 believing it was his duty to do what he could to try and save the country. He received his basic training in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia where he was assigned to Supplies Assistant. He also received three months basic training in Quebec City. Following basic training, John was then posted to “HMCS New Liskeard” which was a minesweeper. This ship was detailed to the St. Lawrence River, Halifax Harbour and Port aux Basque, Newfoundland. During the latter part of the war, John was posted to the “HMCS Albertan” which was dispatched to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River to trace a submarine (U190). The “HMCS Albertan” was an ocean-going tug. It did not have any form of defence, just rifles. For this reason, the crew kept track of the vessel at a distance. During the war, the HMCS Albertan was to escort convoys across the ocean. If a ship was torpedoed, they could help by putting a line on the ship to help save the crew. Later, John was transferred back to the minesweeper, HMCS New Liskeard. This ship did convoy-duty as well. This would have been close to the end of the war. John did not encounter any conflicts, nor did he see any injuries. The only thing that may have scared him somewhat was when the old 4.7 was fired off the bow of the ship. The whole ship shuttered as a result of the combustion. This was nerve wracking for some time. An interesting and amusing story John recounted was as follows: While tied up at Point Head Naval Base in North Sydney, John and his buddies (Jake Hamilton & Bub Terris) went into Sydney for the evening. After their evening out, they were too late to catch the last harbour craft which would take them back to the Base. So, they had to take a taxi. When they arrived at the Base gate, the guard on duty would not let the taxi take them to the ship. This was not good as it was quite a distance to walk from the gate to the ship. Off to the side of the gate were two or three parked army jeeps. Sparky told John to keep the on-duty guard occupied while he went around back “to borrow” one of the jeeps. Sparky was able to start up one of the jeeps and the four of them piled in together. They started down the hill towards the wharf. This particular night was exceptionally foggy. The fog was so thick that it was difficult for Sparky to see where he was going. So, he stuck his head out the window in an effort to see better and when he did he lost his glasses. continued ... Frank and John McCabe. with German flag and helmet taken from battle with Germans
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