All posts by Dinger

About Dinger

A sea cadet at RCSCC LION from 1963 to 1968, I joined the Naval Reserve at HMCS STAR in 1968 as a Bos'n. I was an Officer Cadet in the ROUTP, commissioned in 1971, and awarded my watchkeeping ticket in 1973. I served at sea, at one time or another, in all five Gate Vessels and HMCS FORT STEELE & CHAUDIERE as well as the Coast Guard icebreaker Louis St. Laurent and served as OIC of the patrol vessels RALLY and RAPID. At STAR from 1968 to 2007, I served as XO twice and then as CO from 2002 to 2005. I rounded out my career by serving as SSO Training at NAVRESHQ in Quebec City in 2008, retiring in 2009 as CO of HMCS HUNTER in Windsor. I was Executive Director for the Friends of HMCS HAIDA till 2011 and have been an active volunteer onboard HAIDA since she arrived in Hamilton in 2003.

Unit Colours 1935

19 January 2015

Bob Williamson’s book, HMCS STAR: A Naval Reserve History, records on page 26 that, “in the autumn of 1935, the unit’s colours were donated by the Caxton Chapter of the Imperial Order of Daughters of the Empire.  These colours were hand made by the ladies of the Order.  On March 24, 1936, these colours were deposited at the altar of St. Peter’s Church on Main Street East, where they still hang today.”

The building is no longer used as a church so permission was obtained from the Diocese of Niagara to remove the colours.  Unfortunately, it appears as if the original colours may have deteriorated to the point that at some point they were replaced by the church.  They still represent a link to the unit’s past so, on January 8th, 2015, the colours were retrieved and returned to HMCS STAR, where they will eventually be properly displayed.

Unit Colours Hanging in St. Peter's Church, 705 Main Street East, Hamilton.
Unit Colours Hanging in St. Peter’s Church, 705 Main Street East, Hamilton.

Sixteen Bells

28 December 2014

The messes at HMCS STAR will hold their annual New Year’s Levee on Thursday, January 1st, starting at 11:00.    All mess members and retired mess members are invited.  Light lunch, refreshments and Moose Milk!

N.B.     The traditional eight bells, to mark the end of a watch, is replaced at midnight on New Year’s Eve, by sixteen.

The Navy Grey Cup

Hamilton’s Navy – Air Force Grey Cup

The 1944 St. Hyacinthe-Donnacona Navy Combines
The 1944 St. Hyacinthe-Donnacona Navy Combines

Seventy years ago, the 32nd Grey Cup was played in Hamilton between the Hamilton Flying Wildcats (Flying because of the RCAF personnel on the team) and the St. Hyacinthe-Donnacona Navy Combines.  Navy won 7 to 6.

As for the 102nd Grey Cup – “oskee wee wee”!