John Lipton

We [HMCS Haida]recognized a German submarine [U-971]and then we attacked it, we did seven depth charge attacks before we sank it. We picked up 51 Germans, made them POWs, prisoners of war. And we landed them as prisoners of war in Plymouth, England. First of all, you locate the U-boat. We had underwater detection gear. And so you locate the U-boat and you attack it, depth charge it. We did one, two, three, we did five attacks on that sub before we sank it, well, we blew it up. And we picked up 51 Germans. I got the DSM, the Distinguished Service Medal for sinking a submarine. Distinguished Service Medal, it’s a decoration, king’s decoration that I got, I was awarded that for sinking a sub, German sub. Well, during wartime, you’re always fearful. Because you never know when you’re going to be torpedoed. So that fear was always there. Even though it’s hidden, it’s there.