Gumboot Navy

GUMBOOT NAVY was the informal name for the Fishermen's Reserve, a reserve unit of fishers within the Royal Canadian Navy formed to patrol the BC coast during WWII. It was established early in 1939 as the threat of war loomed, and expanded to a maximum size of 42 boats and 975 men in 1942 after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Recruits used their own fish boats outfitted by the navy with guns and equipment. The unit disbanded in May 1944 as the fear of Japanese invasion passed. See also FISHING,...

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