Veterans ‘splice the mainbrace’ and celebrate their service at Navy Days

With the National Band of the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve playing classic naval tunes, veterans reminisced and traded stories about their time at sea.

It was the first-ever Navy Days at the Naval Museum of Alberta, connected to the Military Museums, but Sunday also served as a memorial on the anniversary of an explosion on the HMCS Kootenay.

“47 years ago my ship exploded in Bern,” Petty Officer Lorne Baird, who served on the Kootenay, said. “Twenty-third of October [1969]. Nine ship members killed, another 54 in hospital. Bit of a memorial.”

David Eng says it’s a good time to catch up with fellow veterans, and it brings back memories.

“This is all familiar to me and I enjoy the atmosphere around here. I also belong to the Naval Veterans Association of Calgary. It’s all old vets here too, get to talk sea stories and all that.”

Collectors also could purchase memorabilia, like patches, models, and artifacts from Canadian ships.

Most of it was excess stock at the museum, which is one of a kind.

“Surprisingly this is the largest naval museum in Canada,” Eric Kahler, a veteran and volunteer with the Naval Museum, said. “We have the most artifacts out of any of the naval museums. In Halifax or Victoria you might expect they’d have quite large collections but it’s actually in Calgary … a landlocked province that has more than any of the other museums.”

Plus, with about 3,000 naval veterans estimated to live in Alberta, an event like Navy Days is a perfect opportunity to bring more together, which can be hard.

“The challenge really is you don’t know who they are or where they are, so if you can draw them in and find out that they have some affiliation then perhaps you can invite them to join some of the groups and entice them into that. That’s the whole idea behind the Navy Days,” Kahler said.

After the band stopped playing a medley of naval tunes, and following a moment of silence for those killed on the HMCS Kootenay, the event ended on a high note.

Veterans, including Petty Officer Lorne Baird, centre, get ready to splice the mainbrace and toast the Royal Canadian Navy. Sunday, October 23, 2016

Veterans gathered and were told to ‘splice the mainbrace’, a naval tradition where they downed a shot of rum in honour of the Royal Canadian Navy.

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