Born in Chatham, the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Rayment of 73 Park Avenue West, Chatham, ON. James attended Queen Mary Public School and the Chatham Vocational School.  It was reported that he married Lyla (nee BUSHY).  CDN 12/01/45 

James enlisted in the RCNVR in 5 Nov. 1942, training in Windsor, ON. at HMCS Hunter, then to Halifax and HMCS Cornwallis, NS. and overseas to Newfoundland before engaging in overseas duties. 

He saw action on a Canadian destroyer on D-Day, his ship HMCS St. Laurent was under heavy enemy fire while in the English Channel but he escaped without being wounded. Since D-Day the St. Laurent had been on patrol looking for trouble beside the German shore batteries, she was “just missed” by a remote controlled glider bomb as well as several encounters with German E-boats.

The St. Laurent first occasion was on a ‘hunter patrol’ with the HMCS Swansea and the destroyer  HMS Forester, the three ships sank a U-Boat in the North Atlantic. The hunters rescued 45 Nazi from the destroyed submarine.   

The next encounter began with a aircraft from RAF Coastal Command aircraft that was attacking a surfaced U-Boat. The aircraft was attacking with depth charges. The tracer fire from the U-Boat attracted the St. Laurent some five or six miles away. The destroyer went to full-speed and the aircraft dropped illuminating flares to clearly mark the location of the sub. It had sunk almost immediately.

It was a very big sub, there was large number of survivors including it’s Captain. It took three bunches of Germans in rubber life rafts and men hanging on to them to be rescued. Scramble nest were hung over the sides of the ships to get the prisoners aboard. HMCS Ottawa screened the St. Laurent and the RAF plane kept a look-out for other subs in the area. CDN 19/09/44   

It was reported that AB Rayment had returned home on a fifty two day leave. CDN 12/01/45.

It is reported that he was discharged from the Navy 8 Nov. 1945. L.G. Rayment (son).

Date of Discharge: November 7, 1945

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sources

CFF-FD44, L. G. Rayment (14/11/15), PSUC-RH, IODE(P), VR

Age	born 1922
Birthplace	Chatham
Marital Status	Married
When Enlisted	September 1942
Next of Kin	Lyla Rayment (Wife)

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