Daniel Francis

Reading the National Narrative

Remembering the Athenia

Nov 9, 2019

On today's CBC website there is an item about a reunion of survivors of the Athenia, a passenger ship torpedoed by the Germans right at the beginning of World War Two.

Loyal readers may recall that my mother-in-law, Dorothy Dean Brealey, was a passenger on the doomed vessel. She was returning to Canada with her mother after visiting relatives in England.

In 2006 I wrote an article for Canada's History about Dorothy's brush with death. To commemorate Remembrance Day, you can find it here.