Naval tragedy was sad day in history

Today, Oct. 23, I and other survivors will gather in Halifax for the 50th anniversary of the worst peacetime disaster in the history of the Royal Canadian Navy. On that day in 1969, an explosion and fire in the engine room of HMCS Kootenay killed eight sailors. A ninth died several days later aboard HMCS Bonaventure, where he had been sent with serious smoke inhalation. Three men were evacuated to England with severe burns and more than 50 were hospitalized in Plymouth, England, with smoke inhalation.

The crew fought the fire for 21/2 hours until it was extinguished. The ship was then towed to Plymouth, where the eight casualties were buried, four in a Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and four at sea. Repatriation of bodies back to Canada was not allowed in those days. The ship had to be towed back to Canada in late November, taken out of service and subsequently updated to a new configuration. Many of the officers and men went back to sea on another destroyer in early 1970.

One of the saddest parts of the whole episode? These men were not allowed to speak about what they had been through. There was minimal counselling offered. Men who did seek help were too often summarily released from the military on medical grounds. It was 40 years later before most of them knew that they could get disability benefits from Veterans Affairs Canada. Many of the men suffered from physical and mental-health problems in later years. In my case, I succumbed to depression 20 years after the ordeal, later traced to post-traumatic stress from the tragedy.

It is, of course, heartening to know that things are handled much differently and better these days.

Gordon Forbes, Orléans