Vinet, Rene

Rene Vinet was born April 29, 1923 in Verdun, Quebec, on the south shore of Montreal.  He had three siblings, including an older brother who served in the Royal Canadian Artillery in the First Division; older brother Rudy saw action in Sicily and Italy, including the Battle of Ortona. Rene enlisted when it was his turn, choosing the Royal Canadian Navy. He went into training at Ste-Hyacinthe where he learned Morse Code and the basics of naval signals; he also ventured to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia early in the war before he was assigned to his first ship, the corvette HMCS Sherbrooke.  Their job was to escort convoys across the Atlantic, engaging U-boats whenever that threat existed.  Along the way they dealt with the weather, the watches, and the exhaustion that characterized life on a corvette. Rene was later transferred to HMCS Vegreville, a minesweeper.  After that, Rene was assigned to the frigate  HMCS Matane, and on that ship they had a confirmed U-boat kill.  They also played a role in D-day support operations, and during the Battle of Normandy they were hit by a German “glider bomb”.  The damage was substantial, so the ship went back to Plymouth for repairs and the men were reassigned.  As the war was nearing its end Rene was put on HMCS Riviere du Loup and he headed back to Canada. Like the men of his generation Rene had to readjust to the home front, and he did so, meeting and marrying Sheila and taking work at Dorval Airport in Montreal, where he had a long career with several airlines.  In May 2025 Rene was part of the Veterans’ Affairs contingent that visited the Netherlands to mark the 80th anniversary of that country’s liberation.  Scott Masters was fortunate to visit and interview Rene at his home in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec in October 2025.