Berwick Comox Valley is proud to be sponsoring the Alberni Project’s commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic.
Berwick will host this exhibit May 1 through Battle of the Atlantic Sunday on May 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1700 Comox Ave.
in Comox.
This event will give Valley residents an opportunity to visit Berwick and its amenities as well as an opportunity to pay tribute to the men and women who were a part of the longest continuous military campaign of the Second World War. This extensive exhibit is free and open to the public.
The Battle of Atlantic Sunday has been designated by the Canadian government to honour the sacrifices of sailors, merchant seamen, RCAF and Canadian Army personnel who gave their lives in the North Atlantic.
The Royal Canadian Navy lost 2,000 lives and 24 warships. More than 900 RCAF and Canadian Army personnel were lost as well. The elements were often as vicious as the foe, with raging storms, pack ice, bitter cold, fog, and the dense blackness of North Atlantic nights.
This interactive display of restored photos, paintings, naval artifacts, as well as mementos from the 1940s, a scale replica model of HMCS Alberni, and the memorial wall to the crew of HMCS Alberni, which will be staged on the ground and fourth floors of Berwick.
A special 60-minute documentary film on HMCS Alberni and U480 will be shown on an ongoing basis in the fourth-floor exhibit hall.
The 1943 feature film Corvette K-225 and the 1953 film The Cruel Sea will be shown each day in the residents' private theatre on the main floor. Seating for each showing is limited to 30 viewers.
Admission to the two feature films is free but reservations for
seating must be made in advance by calling the Berwick Recreation office at 250-890-2338.
The Alberni Project (TAP) is a local program, founded by Courtenay resident Lewis Bartholomew in 2000 as a tribute to the men who served on the Canadian corvette HMCS Alberni.
In addition to the travelling exhibit, Bartholomew has created and maintains an extensive website for the benefit of historians and the surviving families of the Alberni’s crew.
TAP has been featured on the CBC’s Newsworld Remembrance Day Live and has been invited to participate in various Vancouver Island community events, schools, historic commemorations and Remembrance Day ceremonies throughout the year.
Beside free Canada Remembers pins, Royal Canadian Navy posters, informational booklets on the Battle of the Atlantic and the Canadian Merchant Navy, and other information from Veterans Affairs there will also TAP souvenir pins, clothing and other items for sale that support TAP’s maintenance and travel expenses.
For additional information, contact Berwick Comox Valley at 250-339-1690 or Lewis Bartholomew at 250-338-2720. Volunteer positions for this exhibit are available by writing to mrbarth@alberniproject.org.
More news about the Alberni can be followed on TAP's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/The-Alberni-Project/281936973208 and its website at www.alberniproject.org.
— Alberni Project