The Alberni Project
5-625 Cliffe Avenue V9N 2J6 Courtenay, BC, Canada

It is with deep sadness that we report the passing on February 14th of Lorna June Gillrie, a long time supporter of The Alberni Project and the HMCS ALBERNI Museum and Memorial. June's father is featured in the William K. Leslie wing of the museum. She was 104 years old. Our condolences to the family.

HAMM is closed today (Flag Day) but here is a reminder of our Flag Day celebration in 2016.

Today is Flag Day in Canada It was on February 15, 1965 that Canada adopted our Maple Leaf flag. Here our sailors aboard HMCS Harry DeWolf / NCSM Harry DeW...olf fly a Canadian flag that flew at the Juno Beach Centre last year. The Juno Beach Centre is Canada’s only museum on the D-Day landing beaches and serves as our primary Second World War site of remembrance in Europe. The offshore patrol vessel (and this class of ship) is named for Vice-Admiral Henry George Harry DeWolf, a Canadian naval hero from the Second World War. As a commander, DeWolf captained HMCS Haida, a Tribal-class destroyer that helped guard the western approaches to the English Channel in the months leading up to and following D-Day, the Allied landings in Normandy, France. DeWolf and his crew helped to ensure that the German navy’s fast and deadly torpedo boats and destroyers were unable to stop the landings. Learn more about the Juno Beach Centre at junobeach.org. #FlagDay Centre Juno Beach / Juno Beach Centre Maritime Forces Atlantic - Forces Maritimes de l'Atlantique Maritime Forces Pacific / Forces maritimes du Pacifique

On Valentines Day in 1944, Anne Frank wrote in her diary: "On Sunday morning I noticed, to my great joy (I'll be honest with you), that Peter kept looking at me.... Not in the usual way. I don't know, I can't explain it, but I suddenly had the feeling he wasn't as in love with Margot as I used to think." At first, Anne did not like Peter much. Yet slowly but surely, they developed a friendship and even fell in love. They first kissed in the attic of the Secret Annex. Photos: Anne Frank, December 1941 and Peter van Pels, 1942.

Happy St Valentine's Day.

HAMM is closed today through Monday February 15 due to the weather. Open again Tuesday 10-2. (Picture of Director Lewis Bartholomew and Secretary James Derry snowed out of the Potato Museum in Idaho 2011)