Daniel Lionel Hanington

Who was Daniel Lionel Hanington?

Daniel Lionel Hanington, DSC, CD was a Canadian Rear Admiral. In 1942, while serving on the HMCS Wetaskiwin, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. His medal citation was "For meritorious services before the enemy."

What follows is his obituary as published in the National Post.

"Rear Admiral Daniel Lionel Hanington, who survived a torpedo attack by a German U-boat during the Battle of the Atlantic, and received the Distinguished Service Cross, has died aged 77.

"Like many young men of his generation, Mr. Hanington entered the armed forces immediately after completing secondary studies at Rothesay Collegiate School, in New Brunswick.

"In June, 1940, he finished school; by the fall, Midshipman Hanington was at sea in HMS Rajputana, an old ocean liner dragooned into convoy escort duty; and in the early morning of Sunday, April 13, 1941, Rajputana was torpedoed and sunk.

"'All of a sudden, there was a phenomenal crash on the port side. The ship, and everything in her, stopped dead, and she listed about 10 degrees,' Mr. Hanington wrote in his unpublished memoirs. After sighting the U-boat's periscope, and shooting at it unsuccessfully, the submarine fired a second torpedo. Standing on top of a magazine with 20 tons of ammunition, Mr. Hanington was scared. 'If they ever salvage the Raj, I guarantee that they will find my handprints on the rail around that magazine hatch.'