Elmer Auld was born July 4, 1924, and he grew up in Port Arthur/Fort William (now Thunder Bay), Ontario.  His father was a Great War veteran who suffered from the effects of being gassed; he was an Irishman from Belfast, Ireland who came to Philadelphia because of the Irish Famine, later going to Port Arthur at age 16 and working for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Growing up against the backdrop of the Great Depression, Elmer said, “he tried to be a good student”, making it to the 10th grade.  He became a telegrapher/driver in 1941, delivering telegrams to families of service members.  He said that it was not a pleasant task. He enlisted in the Navy at 17, saying “he had to go”; having seen how his father suffered he did not want to be in the infantry.  Elmer spent 4 months at the RCN barracks training in Port Arthur, and his first ship was the minesweeper escort HMCS Burlington (J-250), where he was an ASDIC operator using sound waves (sonar bounces) to monitor U-Boat traffic thru “pings, whoops, pings, whoops.”  The crew consisted of 80-85 sailors. They operated between Boston, New York and Halifax.  Elmer later served aboard the Corvette Escort HMCS Giffard (K-402) in 50-60 ship convoys from Newfoundland to Londonderry, Ireland. It carried a crew of 100. Elmer participated in 15 convoys of 14-16 day trips, where he observed U-Boats in the convoy’s path.  He saw many ships sunk and had the difficult task of rescuing men from the water – and the visions of those he could not rescue. He said that at war’s end were “happy days”, but he also recalls the Halifax Riots, which spoiled what should have been good memories.  Elmer was ready to volunteer to go to the Pacific, but the atomic bombs settled that decision.  On his return Elmer went home, and within a few years he was married and raising his own family.  He said he had no problem re-adjusting to civilian life and that he has experienced no PTSD but does have dreams about rescuing the 18-19-year-old survivors from the water.  Crestwood students were able to interview Elmer Auld over zoom from his home in Thunder Bay, Ontario in February 2025.