The “Veteran Sailor”
Founded in 1910, Canada’s Naval Service wore the same uniform as the Royal Navy. The traditional “sailor suit” included bell bottom trousers, jumper, flannel ‘gun shirt”, and square collar. The uniform was completed with a lanyard, silk and a round cap with a ribbon that during peacetime identified the sailor’s ship. In 1968 Canada adopted a single uniform for both officers and non-commissioned members of the Canadian Forces.
The “Veteran Sailor”
The statue is of John Mason who enrolled in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve at age 18 in 1942 as a Stoker 2nd Class. After serving in the North Atlantic for the duration of the Second World War he earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto and returned to the Navy in 1949 as an officer. He later served during the Korean conflict. In 1964 he was the first Engineering Officer to command a destroyer. He retired in 1978 at the rank of Captain.
Marker is on Wharf Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
