Wallace Horley was born in Dewar Lake, Saskatchewan on September 10, 1921, the son of Walter Carman Horley (born in Becher, Lambton, Ontario) and Rachel (nee Muirhead, born in Dumbarton, Scotland) Horley, of 114 John Street, Sarnia. Wallace’s father, Walter Carman, was employed in the Processing Department of Sarnia Refinery. Wallace had one sister, Evelyn Mary (born 1918), and two brothers, who at wartime, were both also in the Royal Canadian Navy: Stoker Petty Officer Alistair James Horley (born 1919) and Telegraphist F.A. Horley. Wallace also had a brother-in-law, Cpl. William Dellow who served with the Canadian Corps in Italy.
Wallace attended school in Port Lambton. Prior to enlisting, Wallace was employed at Imperial Oil Company, as a pipe fitter, and residing with his parents at 114 John Street, Sarnia. Single at the time, Wallace enlisted in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve in March 1942, just over two years prior to his death. He trained in Windsor and went overseas in January 1944 where he was assigned to the crew of the HMCS Alberni (K103), a corvette of the Flower class, attaining the rank of Stoker.
The Alberni had been commissioned for service by the Royal Canadian Navy in February 1941. She was the first western Canadian corvette assigned as a convoy escort. She played a prominent role in the Battle of the Atlantic when the depredations of German U-boats were at their peak. In her illustrious career, she was credited with one probable sinking of a Nazi submarine, had joined in on several other kills, had shot down a Junkers 88 bomber, and had rescued countless numbers of men from the sea after Allied ships were attacked. In April of 1944, she was one of seventeen RCN corvettes sent to the UK in support of Operation Neptune, the landings at Normandy. Wallace had written a letter to his parents saying that he had participated in the invasion of Normandy, France while aboard the Alberni.
On August 21, 1944, the HMCS Alberni was steaming south at 14 knots escorting a convoy in the English Channel southeast of the Isle of Wight. At 11:46 am, the Alberni was struck by a torpedo fired by German submarine U-480. The torpedo struck the ship on her port side immediately aft of the engine room. The surviving crew members were those positioned farther forward, but even many of them never reached the upper deck. Within moments of the attack the ship was awash. The stern sank first. The ship rolled to port, and then the bow went under. The Alberni disappeared in less than one minute. There was a strong wind and heavy seas at the time, and with the speed of the disaster, there was no time to release the ship’s boats and floats. Four officers and 55 members of the crew, representing 2/3 of the Alberni’s crew, were lost in the attack. For those in the water, after forty-five minutes of struggling in the heavy seas, thirty-one crew members were rescued by Royal Navy motor torpedo boats 469 and 470, and taken to Portsmouth.
At the time, no cause was given for the loss of the warship. Wallace Horley was one of the crew members who lost his life in the attack. The Alberni was the 8th corvette and 18th Canadian fighting ship to be lost in World War II. In late-August of 1944, parents Walter and Rachel Horley in Sarnia would receive a telegram informing them that their son, Stoker First Class Wallace C. Horley, R.C.N. is missing at sea. No other details were provided. In mid-September of 1944, Ottawa released the casualty list in connection with the sinking of the Alberni, and Stoker First Class Wallace Carman Horley was among those listed as missing from the lost warship. Information released from Ottawa included that two-thirds of the crew were either dead or missing after the sinking, that the attack occurred while the vessel was pursuing “invasion duties”, and no cause was given for the loss of the ship. In December of 1944, Wallace Horley would be officially listed as, Missing, presumed dead. He was serving in H.M.C.S. ‘Alberni’ which was sunk in the English Channel. In early March of 1945, Stoker First Class Wallace Horley, along with Private Russell Jolly (included in this project), were honoured at a memorial service at Devine Street United Church. Both men were members of the congregation and both had died recently while on active service. Twenty-two year old Wallace Horley has no known grave. His name is inscribed on the Halifax Memorial, Nova Scotia, Panel 12.
SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, L, N, O, P, T, U, V, X, Z, 2A, 2C, 2D