NOTE: Michael Paithowski spelled his surname with a “w” in it. The rest of the family spelled the surname with a “u”.
Michael Paithowski was born in Hamilton, Ontario on December 7, 1917, the son of Michael Paithouski Senior (nicknamed “Tato”) and Rosa Paithouski, of 589 South Vidal Street, Sarnia. Rosa Paithouski (nee Doskevitch) was born in Lvov, Poland. Rosa had a previous marriage to Paul Lukasevich and Rosa and Paul had two children together: Peter Lukasevich (born 1901) and Mike Lukez (born 1907, changed his name from Lukasevich), who would later become half-brothers to Michael Paithowski. Rosa would leave Poland for Canada, leaving behind her husband and two children. Peter Lukasevich and Mike Lukez would later come to Canada, arriving in their twenties in Sarnia and later moving to Windsor.
Michael Paithouski Senior (“Tato”) was born in Vilshanka (near Kiev), Ukraine. When Tato emigrated from Trieste, Ukraine to North America in 1909, his first stop was Ellis Island, New York. Tato’s last name was actually Piatkowski, but the immigration officer recorded it as Paithouski, which it was to remain afterwards. Tato Paithouski then made his way from New York to Montreal and later to Hamilton. It was in Canada that Tato married Rosa. Tato and Rosa would have three children: Mary (born 1915 in Montreal); Michael Joseph (born 1917 in Hamilton); and Nicolas Joseph (born in Hamilton). Eventually the family would come to Sarnia, residing at 589 South Vidal Street. Tato worked as a boiler foreman at Imperial Oil’s Refinery.
The Paithouski siblings and their spouses were busy people. Michaels’ sister, Mary, years later married Earl Wynne, who became a sergeant in the army and went off to war in September 1939. Michael’s brother, Nick, graduated from Queen’s University as a civil engineer in 1940. In his first year at Queen’s, he was voted the Most Valuable Player on the school’s junior football team. At Queen’s for three years, Nick was a regular lineman winning the Johnny Evans Trophy as MVP in the 1939 season. Nick would play centre and linebacker for the 1940 Sarnia Imperials where he was an all-star and won the 1940 Imperial Oil Trophy for league MVP. In 1941, Nick would play for the CFL Regina (later Saskatchewan) Roughriders. In April of 1942, Nick enlisted with the Royal Canadian Engineers, later becoming a lieutenant. He would arrive overseas in approximately August of 1943. During his time overseas, one of Nick’s highlights was playing in a famous football game in London, England: the February 13, 1944 Tea Bowl, before over 30,000 fans in White City Stadium, where the Canadian army soldiers defeated the U.S. army soldiers. The U.S. requested a rematch but D-Day got in the way. As a platoon leader with the Royal Canadian Engineers, he was responsible for supplying the equipment and building of bridges, 51 of them in 45 days in France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands between March 24 and May 5, 1945. After the war, the United States military authorities recognized his distinguished service and bravery in Europe, awarding Nick the USA Bronze Star for his efforts. After the war, Nick would go on to play two seasons with the Hamilton Tigercats (Wildcats at the time), in 1947 and 1948. He would work as a civil engineer for the Federal Department of Transport.
Nick Paithouski would return to Sarnia to start a family with his wife ‘Effie’ Barbara Paul and they were successful, when Effie gave birth to Joseph and Janet. Effie Barbara Paul was the daughter of Lt. Charles Marr Paul and Frances (nee Williams) Paul. Barbara Paul was born in London, England in November of 1917 during a Zeppelin Air Raid. Eleven months later, baby Barbara and her mother Frances left Southhampton, England bound for New York aboard the RMS Olympic (one of Titanic’s sister ships), under the constant threat of U-boat attack. The British Government had paid for their tickets, a special deal for English wives and children of Colonial soldiers to reduce the number of people to feed. When mother and daughter Marr arrived in Sarnia, Frances would receive a telegram informing her that her close sister had died back in England. Frances’ husband Charles was still fighting in Europe.
Nick would be inducted into the Sarnia-Lambton Sports Hall of Fame for football in 1984 and the Queen’s University Football Hall of Fame in 1987. Lieutenant Nick Paithouski would be inducted into the Canadian Veterans Hall of Valour in Carleton Place near Ottawa on May 15th of 2010.
Nick Paithouski’s induction into the Hall of Valour was doubly moving for Nick, his wife Barbara and their families. Barbara’s father, Lieutenant Charles Marr Paul, was also inducted into the Hall on the same day. Charles Marr Paul was born in Sarnia and was one of the first Canadians to leave for battle in the First World War, leaving Val Cartier with the CEF on October 3, 1914. Charles joined the 8th battalion of the 90th Winnipeg Rifles, nicknamed the Little Black Devils and would later be credited with saving many lives. Lieutenant Charles Paul received the Military Medal for courage and gallantry under fire while holding the line during the first German attack with poison gas at Ypres in April 1915. He also earned a Meritorious Service Medal for saving more lives during the Battle of the Sommes in 1916. His unit was also at Vimy Ridge and Paschendaele in 1917 and the following year he would be made Officer in the field. After returning to Sarnia with his British bride, Frances Williams, Charles and Frances would raise eight children: Francis, Robert, Elva, Lillian, Edna Jean, Edith, Elizabeth and Effie Barbara who would become Nick Paithouski’s future wife. A letter that Charles Paul wrote to his mother from the Front in April of 1915 is included in the “Sarnia and Canada War History Notes” section of this project.
Michael Joseph was a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Parish, Sarnia. He married Miss Eloise Victoria Johnston (born 1920), the only daughter of John Eugene Johnston and Florence Johnston of 332 Confederation Street on November 30, 1943 at St. George’s Chapel in Sarnia. At the wedding ceremony, Mrs. Hazel Smith served as the matron of honour and George Kumchy served as the best man. Following the ceremony, the immediate families were entertained at the Colonial Hotel for a reception before the newlyweds left on a short wedding trip. On their return, the couple resided at 332 Confederation Street and then later 215 Confederation Street, Sarnia. Michael and Eloise would have one child together, a son, John Michael, born August 22, 1944.
Michael’s wife Eloise (nee Johnston) had two brothers, both of whom would serve in the war. One brother, Eugene, would serve in the infantry, and his life was never the same after his wartime experiences. Her other brother was Jay Syver Johnston, who would become a Flying Officer-Wireless Operator/Air Gunner with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Michael’s brother-in-law Jay Johnston would lose his life when the Liberator aircraft in which he was in, crashed into Black Mountain in Quebec in October of 1943, taking twenty-four R.C.A.F. lives, the largest single-crash loss of life in the history of the RCAF. The plane was listed as missing, and its remains were not found until after the war. Jay Johnston’s story is included in this project. Michael and Eloise would marry just one month after Eloise had lost her brother Jay.
Recording his occupation as a fireman, Michael Paithowski enlisted in the Canadian Navy and became a member of Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, initially serving aboard the HMCS Drumheller and later aboard the corvette HMCS Shawinigan. He attained the rank of Petty Officer Stoker. The HMCS Shawinigan (K136) was a Flower-class corvette commissioned on September 19, 1941 at Quebec City. It was one of the sturdy little “work horses” of the RCN and was to become the 9th corvette and 19th Canadian warship lost in the war. She was in the navy’s convoy escort and patrol fleet. Her sea miles totalled more than 150 000, and she had been one of the busiest vessels of her class, escorting convoy runs in the Atlantic Ocean and off the east coast of Canada. Few ships of her class spent more time at sea during the period when German U-boats were most active in the North Atlantic. During the two years prior to her sinking, she did not lose a ship under her charge. Men who served aboard her had been acclaimed for fighting efficiency, for rescue work and for attacks on enemy U-boats. She escorted hundreds of thousands of vital war supplies and shipping to Allied ports.
Before he joined the Shawinigan, Michael would return to Sarnia on leave a few weeks, to visit his parents, his new wife and his friends. It would be the only time he would see his young son Johnny. When he returned to duty, Michael would send his new wife Eloise and their young son three letters while aboard the Shawinigan. Less than one year after getting married, Michael Paithowski would lose his life.
On November 24, 1944, the HMCS Shawinigan and a United States Coast Guard Cutter Sassafrass escorted the ferry Burgeo from Sydney, Nova Scotia to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. Ferries on this route were always escorted after the tragic loss of the ferry SS Caribou two years earlier. In mid-October of 1942, the passenger ferry SS Caribou had been torpedoed on the same route, and 136 lives were lost including ten children. The three ships in November 1944 made an uneventful crossing to Port aux Basques, at which time the Shawinigan detached to continue doing an independent anti-submarine patrol in the area. The Shawinigan was scheduled to rendezvous with the Burgeo the following morning for the return to Cape Breton. But the Shawinigan never made it. On that fateful November 24 moonlit night, the Shawinigan maintained radio silence while performing anti-submarine patrol, in the Cabot Strait between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island. Nearby, German U-boat U-1228 was trying to repair a faulty snorkel without success and had decided to return to Germany for repairs. As soon as U-1228 decided to head back into the Atlantic, she sighted and attacked the Shawinigan with a Gnat torpedo. It was U-1228’s first recorded attack on enemy shipping.
Four minutes later, the Shawinigan, with its entire crew, disappeared in a plume of water and a shower of sparks. The ship had no time for any message to be sent. The next morning, the Burgeo left Port aux Basques on schedule in the fog, but could not find the Shawinigan. Keeping radio silence and not informing command of Shawinigan’s failure to appear, the Burgeo made for Sydney, arriving on November 25 at 6 pm at night. When Burgeo arrived unescorted, the navy knew something had happened to Shawinigan. A day or so later, searching ships came upon fragments of wreckage and six bodies, which were all that remained to indicate what had happened to the Shawinigan.
Seven officers and 84 crew members, including Michael Paithowski, were lost. There were no survivors. There was one other Sarnia native on board and lost, twenty-three year old Leading Coder William John Anderson, who is included in this project. In late November of 1944, parents Michael Senior and Rosa Paithouski in Sarnia would receive a telegram from the Department of National Defence informing them that their son, Petty Officer Michael Paithouski has been reported missing at sea. The message contained no other information and intimated that a letter would follow. The message was received exactly one year to the day that Michael had married Eloise Johnston.
On December 7, 1944, in a dispatch from Ottawa, the Hon. Angus L. Macdonald, Minister of National Defence fro Naval Services, announced the loss of the H.M.C.S. Shawinigan, while on operational duty in the North Atlantic. He gave no details but said the ship’s complement had been lost and five bodies have been recovered and identified. It was announced locally that two Sarnia seamen, Michael Paithouski and William Anderson were members of the crew of the Shawinigan and were reported missing. In mid-February of 1945, the Paithouski family in Sarnia would receive a telegram from Ottawa informing them that their son, Petty Officer Michael Paithouski, who was reported missing at sea last November is officially presumed lost.
Later, the Navy would inform the Paithouski family that Michael Paithowski was officially listed as, Missing, presumed dead, when the ship in which he was serving, H.M.C.S. ‘Shawinigan’ was lost while on operational duty at sea. It was not until after the war ended and U-1228 surrendered, did the details of what had happened to the Shawinigan that night become uncovered. Twenty-six year old Michael Paithowski has no known grave. He is memorialized on the Halifax Memorial, Nova Scotia, Canada, Panel 12. On the Sarnia cenotaph, his name is inscribed as M. Paithouski. The page displaying Michael Paithowski’s name in the Book of Remembrance in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill, Ottawa is open each year every September 1st.
Michael left behind his new wife Eloise and their three-month old son Johnny Paithouski. For Eloise, she did not have clear closure of her brother’s death or her husband’s death until after the war ended. Eloise would go on to be employed at Bell Canada as a switchboard operator, working midnight shifts and leaving their son Johnny to be cared for by Michael’s sister Mary and her husband Earl Wynne. Years later, Eloise would marry Tom Rue, a Norwegian Merchant Marine, stationed in Canada.
On June 14, 1997, at Trois Rivieres, Quebec, the Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrietien and his wife would take part in a Royal Canadian Navy ceremony to officially commission the new HMCS Shawinigan (704). In attendance were Johnny Paithouski and his wife Paulette. They were there with other families who had lost loved ones on board the HMCS Shawinigan on that fateful night in November of 1944. Johnny had married Paulette, her second marriage, and she had a son from her first marriage, Shawn. A number of years later, with his step-son’s full approval, Johnny in the first legal case of its kind in Ontario, adopted Shawn who then became Shawn Paithouski.
SOURCES: A, B, C, D, E, F, J, L, N, P, T, U, X, 2A, 2C, 2D, 3E, o