A Sailors Sailor!
TOP STORY
Saturday, November 19, 2005
A sailor’s sailor’
Mourners flock to Chester to bid farewell to hero Piers
By Richard Dooley
The Daily News
CHESTER – Hundreds of aging naval veterans lined the
streets of Chester to bid farewell to one of Canada’s
greatest war heroes yesterday.
Retired rear-admiral Desmond William (Debby) Piers died
Nov. 1 at the age of 92.
He was remembered for his valour during the D-Day invasion
and his heroism protecting trans-Atlantic convoys from wolf
packs of enemy submarines.
But he was also remembered for his love of his family, the
navy and his compassion for fellow sailors.
“Above all, he was a sailor’s sailor,” said Rear-Admiral
Dan McNeil.
McNeil said Piers’s leadership during the Second World War
was instrumental in building today’s modern navy.
“Because of men like Desmond Piers, the Canadian navy came
of age as Canada became a player on the world stage,” he
said.
Piers was born in Halifax in 1913. He joined the navy in
1932 and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming the
youngest commanding officer in the fleet when he took
command of HMCS Restigouche in 1941.
It was the year he married his wife of 64 years, Janet
MacNeil.
Outstanding record
After an outstanding record of war service, Piers continued
a distinguished naval career, rising to the rank of rear-
admiral in 1962.
McNeil said Piers made a lasting impression on everyone he
met.
“Speak to his shipmates; speak to his colleagues,” said
McNeil.
“Listen to the love and respect for an extraordinary
wartime and peacetime hero and leader.”
Soul of a musician
Piers’s grandson, Piers Baker, recalled his grandfather as
a man with the soul of a musician who took pleasure in
bringing joy to others. His family remembered him as a man
who loved to sing songs around the supper table.
“I looked up to him in so many ways,” said Baker.
With a full military honour guard standing by outside St.
Stephen’s United Church, the urn bearing Piers’s ashes
passed by dozens of flag bearers as it was taken to the
Chester waterfront.
It was taken to HMCS Toronto, which steamed into Chester
harbour to escort the remains back to Halifax. Toronto
saluted Piers with a 13-gun salute as the ashes were
brought aboard.
As the ashes were taken aboard, family ashore and a host of
naval officers shouted hip-hooray three times in honour of
Piers.
The ashes will be interred in the naval columbarium at St.
Paul’s Anglican Church in Halifax’s Grand Parade.
Fellow sailors recalled Piers as a warrior who loved peace
and a leader who was always concerned about the spirit and
morale of his men.
Veteran Bob Whiteside, a member of the South Shore Admiral
Piers Naval Association, served with Piers aboard HMCS
Quebec in 1952.
His eyes grew misty as he recalled his admiration for the
late rear-admiral.
“There wasn’t anyone in the navy who didn’t love him.”
rdooley@hfxnews.ca
Piers saved my life – former seaman
CHESTER - There’s little doubt in Frank Hammond’s mind that
retired rear admiral Desmond Piers is the reason he’s
alive.
It’s the reason Hammond came to bid farewell to one of
Canada’s greatest military heroes.
Hammond, 80, was a young seaman serving with the Canadian
262nd Landing Craft Flotilla in 1944. His job was to ferry
troops to the shores of Normandy during the D-Day invasion
under heavy enemy fire.
While Hammond and the rest of the Canadian landing craft
fleet headed to shore, Piers positioned his destroyer, HMCS
Algonquin, to protect the smaller vessels and barrage the
enemy defences with covering fire from the ship’s big guns.
Piers’s actions that day earned him France’s highest
military award and the respect of the men hitting the
beaches.
“Because of him, because of his skill, I am here today,”
said Hammond following a memorial service in Chester for
Piers, who died on Nov. 1 at the age of 92.
D-Day wasn’t the only time Hammond watched Piers put his
skills as a naval tactician to work.
Piers earned a reputation as a solid military leader during
the darkest days of the Second World War escorting convoys
to Europe. His ability to engage the enemy and protect
allied ships made him a rising star in the navy.
It also made the men under his command fiercely loyal to
the man they affectionately called Debby.
Hammond also served aboard the corvette HMCS Oakville,
escorting convoys. He still marvels at the way Piers was
able to defend attacks on the ships making the perilous
trans-Atlantic journey.
“He was very good at protecting us little guys in the
corvettes,” he said.
Piers’s concern for the men under his command made him an
enduring figure in the minds of a legion of Canadian naval
veterans.
John Schumacher served twice under Piers’s command as a
seaman, during and after the war.
“It was quite the mark of respect from the lower decks to
say a naval officer was a gentleman,” said Schumacher.
“He was a gentleman.” - Richard Dooley
LIFE AND TIMES
Rear-admiral Desmond William (Debby) Piers CM, DSC, CD,
DScMil:
• Born in Halifax, June 12, 1913.
• Joined the Royal Canadian Navy on Sept. 2, 1932 as a
cadet with the Royal Military College of Canada.
• Served aboard the Canadian destroyer HMCS Restigouche at
the outbreak of the Second World War.
• Appointed executive officer of HMCS Assiniboine in 1940.
• Named commanding officer of HMCS Restigouche in 1941. He
is the youngest commanding officer in the navy at the age
of 28.
• Married Janet MacNeill in September 1941.
• Left Restigouche in 1943 to serve as a training officer
in Halifax.
• Returned to the war at sea in 1944 as commanding officer
of HMCS Algonquin.
• In November 1944, Algonquin was part of an attack on a
German convoy that sank or destroyed seven vessels.
• In 1945, Piers organized a Canada versus Russia hockey
game during a layover in northern Russia.
• Served as a training officer after the war and as
executive officer aboard the aircraft carrier HMCS
Magnificent. He was promoted to the rank of captain and
appointed to naval headquarters.
• In 1952, was appointed to NATO’s headquarters in Norfolk,
Va.
• At the rank of commodore, Piers was senior Canadian
military officer in the Atlantic in 1956.
• Appointed honorary aide-de-camp to Gov.-Gen. Vincent
Massey.
• He was assistant chief of naval Staff from 1960 to 1962.
• Promoted to the rank of rear-admiral in 1962.
• After 35 years of service, Piers retired from the navy on
June 25, 1967.
• Piers and his wife took up permanent residence in Chester
where they became known as active community volunteers.
• Appointed agent general of Nova Scotia for the United
Kingdom and Europe in 1977.
• Granted an honorary doctorate of military science by the
Royal Military College of Canada in 1982.
• During a Battle of the Atlantic dinner aboard HMCS
Sackville in 2003, an 89-year-old Piers led veterans in sea
shanties and naval songs, accompanying them with his ever-
present harmonica.
• In 2004, Piers was award France’s highest award for
military action, L’Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur,
for his valour on D-Day.
— Richard Dooley
HMCS Toronto crew fire a 13-gun salute in Chester Harbour yesterday as the ashes of retired rear-admiral
Desmond Piers are carried to the frigate on a small navy boat. After a memorial service in Chester, Piers’s
remains were brought to Halifax, where they will be interred in the naval columbarium at St. Paul’s
Anglican Church. (Photo: Canadian Press)