Harry DeWolf

Vice Admiral Henry George DeWolf (26 June 1903 – 18 December 2000) was a Canadian naval officer who was famous as the first commander of the destroyer during the Second World War. He helped destroy 14 German ships or submarines in the period before, during and immediately after the Invasion of Normandy. He was the most decorated naval officer in the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in that war. During that time, he and the crew of Haida were remembered for trying to save the crew of Haidas sister ship, , in early May 1944 after the vessel sank. After the Second World War, he commanded Canada's first aircraft carriers, and . In the wake of 42 years of service, he retired in the early 1960s from the RCN. He aided in the plan to conserve Haida and was present in Toronto when the ship was handed over officially to civilians to become a memorial/museum ship in the 1960s.

Early years Harry George DeWolf was born on 26 June 1903 into a shipping broker family in Bedford, Nova Scotia. DeWolf entered the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in 1918 at age 15 when he attended the Royal Naval College of Canada (RNCC) at Esquimalt, British Columbia because the original Halifax-based school was destroyed by the 6 December 1917 Halifax Explosion. In early 1930, Lieutenant DeWolf received his first command, the at Halifax. In May 1931, he married Gwendolen Gilbert of Somerset, Bermuda, whom he had met while serving aboard HMCS Patriot, which had spent a winter training there several years earlier. In 1932, DeWolf was posted to the destroyer and then in 1933 to the destroyer . Haida and DeWolf saw service with convoys to Murmansk as well as operations to secure the English Channel in preparation for Operation Overlord. Most of his more famous battles took place at night in the English Channel, when DeWolf secured his reputation as a fearless and skilful tactician and became known to his crew as "Hard-Over-Harry" for bold manoeuvres off the coast of France. DeWolf earned the Distinguished Service Order for rescuing survivors of within range of enemy coastal guns on the French coast. After the Allies liberated France, in late August 1944, he left Haida and was recalled to Ottawa, where he was promoted to captain in September 1944, becoming Assistant Chief of Naval Staff.

He died in Ottawa on 18 December 2000 at the age of 97 and was buried at sea from .

On 18 September 2014, it was announced that the planned new class of Canadian warships built specifically for the Arctic, and the lead ship of the class, the , would be named after him.

Awards and decorations DeWolf's personal awards and decorations include the following:

Decoration awarded on 5 January 1946 Commander level

Decoration awarded on 27 May 1944

Decoration awarded on 20 January 1945

WWII 1939-1945 Citation for - MID (1st) Citation for - MID (2nd) Citation for - MID (3rd)

Decoration awarded on 3 September 1946 Officer level Citation

Decoration awarded on 29 August 1947 Officer level Citation

Decoration awarded on 25 August 1947 Citation

Decoration awarded on 8 January 1949 Citation Norwegian award