Wilson was a 21-year-old officer on the minesweeper, the last Canadian warship to be sunk during the Second World War.

This week, Halifax is home to a reunion of officers who were there the day Esquimalt went down, 33 kilometres off Chebucto Head.

It was 6:30 a.m. on April 16, 1945 - three weeks before the end of the war against Germany. Esquimalt had been torpedoed by German submarine U-190. The ship's power was knocked out and no distress call was sent. Sailors jumped into the frigid swells as the vessel filled with water.

"We were very upset when airplanes flew above us and didn't recognize what we were," says Wilson, now, 86. "That broke our hearts... It was just a case of doing our best to stay alive, keep our spirits up."

The survivors spent more than five hours waiting for help as Esquimalt's sudden disappearance went unnoticed in Halifax.

By 9:50 a.m., the captain of Esquimalt's sister ship, HMCS Sarnia, realized the Esquimalt was missing, having failed to show for a rendezvous off Chebucto Head. He suspected a U-boat attack and set to searching for the sub.

Louis Howard was aboard Sarnia that day.

"I'll never forget the sense of when we came up and...we stopped and all of a sudden it was quiet. The ship was just sitting there without any sound at all. To be on a ship where you know submarines are lurking and to be sitting there as a target ... Boy, I'll never forget that moment," Howard said from his home in Ottawa as he prepared for his trip to Halifax.

"Quite an experience for a young guy. I was 21."

The crew aboard Sarnia managed to rescue about two dozen of Esquimalt's 71 crew members.

This week's reunion has also attracted a sailor from the other side of the battle - Werner Hirschmann, U-190's chief engineering officer.

Nearly a month after the sinking, Hirschmann's sub surrendered to Canadian warships. Hirschmann spent the next year in a prisoner of war camp in Ontario. He later settled in Toronto.

Hirschmann says he first met the survivors of the sinking in 1995.

"We met, we shook hands, and we embraced later on," Hirschmann said in an interview from his home. "I'm glad that we have become friends."

Peter Holmes, a reunion organizer, says there are only eight surviving members of the Sarnia crew, with only two travelling to Nova Scotia for the reunion.

The two surviving members from Esquimalt's crew, including Wilson, won't be able to attend.

Howard, now 84, was the Sarnia's navigating officer and will be at this week's reunion.

Over the years, there have been five reunions for crew members from the three vessels. But with living survivors dwindling and many of them too old to attend, organizers have decided to make this week's reunion the last.

"I'm very sad about it," Howard said. "Every seaman has his day, every light has its time of waning."

Hirschmann said he, too, is saddened by the small number of surviving veterans.

"I feel sad about it because it's the last (reunion), nobody's going to be around much longer," he said. "But on the other hand, I'm very much looking forward to seeing them because they have become my dear friends."

Wilson says the reunion offers a reminder of how the war sometimes came very close to Canada's shores.

"It was on your doorstep," said Wilson, who wishes the grim moment in history was taught in more schools.

"I hope the reunion is a big success, and that everyone remembers what it is about - trying to bring back the past history of our servicemen and what we had to do."

The week-long reunion will feature a service of remembrance and the donation of Sarnia's ensign to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax. The crew members will also be presented with medallions for their service during the Second World War.