On August 26 1944, HMCS IROQUOIS met a small boat from Ile d’Yeu, a small channel Island. On board was the local school teacher who stated the Germans had left the Channel Island the day before. In their retreat the post office, radar installations and lighthouse had been destroyed, nineteen citizens and the mayor were also taken as prisoners. IROQUOIS sent a shore party ashore with supplies, food, chocolate, cigarettes and signalling equipment. The IROQUOIS sailors stepped ashore to much celebration. Remaining on the island overnight, the next morning there was a service at the graves of allied airmen, the sailors returned to IROQUOIS with details of enemy positions, minefields and shore defences. The locals also showered the sailors with flowers and a large iced cake, for IROQUOIS was the first allied force to arrive on the island.

Roger Litwiller Collection, Lynford Bourne, RCNVR photo, courtesy Battle of Atlantic Place. (RTL-LRB007)