On Friday, December 19, 1941, the many quiet harbours and coves in Newfoundland were cloaked in snow as the residents, in spite of a war raging, were already caught up in the Christmas spirit. The lamps were trimmed, the wood stacked, handmade or knitted gifts were completed, Eaton's catalogue mail order items had arrived, and the School Christmas concert had been staged. Sixteen households in various settlements throughout the colony, received from the British Admiralty, what they thought was a Christmas message from their boy overseas. They were not braced for the ominous and foreboding news it contained. "The Admiralty regrets to report that your son has been missing and presumed killed as a result of torpedoing of destroyer HMS Stanley during an engagement with the German U-boat 574. I was too young to recall the emotional impact this had on Uncle Edgar, Aunt Louisa and the rest of the Beckett families, or the pall that must have enshrouded the community of Old Perlican. Being next door neighbours, I can faintly recall Oscar as a happy-go-lucky young man who would pass by the house singing and yodeling. His favourite gospel song was "I'm Pressing On The Upward Way." I recall visiting Uncle Edgar and Aunt Louisa, an amputee, seated with her residual limb elevated. She remained forever in denial, never accepting that her son was gone, believing to the end he would eventually return. Another memorable moment from World War 2 took place as we were waiting on March 27, 1943, for the afternoon school session to commence. The Clergyman walked over from the Parsonage (Manse) next door to get two older students; we discovered later that their brother had been killed overseas. Oscar Beckett (Service # JX216793), along with two other Old Perlican comrades, were among the members of the Tenth Naval Contingent that sailed from St. John's on August 5, 1940 on the troopship Nerrisa. After a six-week naval training at the Ganges Barracks, he was assigned to the destroyer HMS Stanley as Ordinary Seaman. Most of our boys served in the Battle of the Atlantic aboard various escort vessels helping Allied convoys deliver supplies to Britain and other European countries. This was both dangerous and difficult, having to contend with not only hazardous weather conditions, but something even more perilous: the constant threat of an enemy U-boat attack. Gibraltar was a strategic shelter for the Royal Navy and gateway to the hostile Mediterranean with Fascist Spain to the West and Mussolini's Italy to the East. On December 16, 1941, Convoy HG (home-bound from Gibraltar) off the coast of Portugal found themselves surrounded by nine enemy U-boats. The escort vessels were involved in intense and horrendous battle for four days. Two of the three destroyers HMS Exmoor and HMS Blankney had each sunk a U-boat on the 17th and 18th, and had returned to Gibraltar for refuelling, leaving only the HMS Stanley on the scene. On the 19th the U- boat 574 spotted the HMS Stanley and torpedoed it, resulting in a violent and devastating explosion, sending flames hundreds of feet in the air. Amidst the aftermath of the turmoil and confusion, it was revealed that only 28 of the 168 crewmembers had survived, including three from Newfoundland. Ironically, this catastrophic event occurred just off Cabo da Roca, Portugal, the most Westerly point of Continental Europe and thus the nearest point to Newfoundland. Now almost 30 years later, I have my thoughts and recollections of the 1940s and keep asking myself the same question, for whom were they fighting? I recall the socials at the Russell Hall in honour of the comrades home on leave, and the stirring and passionate speeches of Winston Churchill (on film) extolling patriotism, sovereignty, freedom, and the Union Jack flag-waving. A small country of about 300,000 sent 22,000 to support the war effort fighting ostensibly for freedom and democracy only to see our rights and freedoms being trampled by political appointments and dictated agendas. Arthur Findlay's quote is perhaps apt, "Why will men fight and suffer to advance the interests of their masters, who fling them aside when they have no further use for them?" Is not war too serious a business to be placed in the hands of politicians or governments? Are they the victims of the hardships, poverty, deprivation and devastation of war? Mahatma Gandhi, who was a pacifist, may have had a point, "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?" For what was once our enemies, are now our friends; Germany has become a member of the European Community and a trading partner. As someone once declared, and is probably ever true, "War does not determine who is right - only who is left." By Charles Beckett Gambo, NL   Submitted By: NULL