The Port Bruce rescue unit of the Canadian Coast Guard has a new defibrillator. The Dave Mounsey Memorial Fund has handed out its 258th defibrillator to the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Central and Arctic Inc. unit (CCGACA) Port Bruce Rescue. The donation is in memory of Fireman John Franklin Ball of Port Burwell who was killed in 1942 when his ship was hit by torpedoes from German submarine U-564 about 260 miles north-northwest of Bermuda. “We do this to honour all fallen first responders,” said Patrick Armstrong, who founded the memorial fund. “Law enforcement, fire, paramedics, and military members so they’re recognized more than just a plaque somewhere or just with the family. I really believe it’s our duty as a living to share the stories of those that have gone.” Ball, a member of the Royal Canadian Navy, served on the Motor Vessel (MV) Victolite. According to the logbook of the submarine U-564, she was torpedoed on Feb. 11, 1942, and sank at about 6:05 a.m. 260 nautical miles (299 miles/480 km) north-northwest of Bermuda after being hit by two torpedoes, resisting an explosive scuttling charge and 98 shots from a deck gun. The Germans observed how the crew abandoned ship in the lifeboats and began to shell the Victolite. There were no survivors out of a crew that included the master, 44 crew members, and two gunners. “John Ball was merchant marine in World War II,” added Armstrong. “He was a civilian sailor, and he was a mechanic and ran the damage control systems. To me, that’s totally in line with the Coast Guard Auxiliary. They’re out there as civilian sailors, putting their own lives at risk to bring people home.” The CCGACA are volunteers who handle rescue from Long Point to Erieau. “When Patrick called, I was amazed,” said Chuck Smith, unit leader of the CCGACA in Port Bruce. “It’s going to be the most important piece of equipment.” Smith said prior to receiving this donation, they were doing CPR “the old-fashioned way” when necessary. “Pumping the chest, calling EMS, having them meet us at the dock, handing them over,” said Smith. “Doing the basic lifesaving stuff that we that we’ve been trained. We are all trained to how to use them (defibrillators). Hopefully we’ll never have to use it. We have had situations here in past years where people have drowned and because we didn’t have the equipment and to handle it, unfortunately they did pass,” Smith added. Armstrong says in the 17 years they have been giving away these lifesaving devices, they have eight confirmed lives saved. “We know that there’s been more, but we confirm that there’s been eight and that makes all of the time and effort worth it,” said Armstrong.
