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Families gather to remember HMCS Kootenay tragedy
By: CTV.ca News Staff
Date: Fri. Oct. 2 2009 9:07 PM ET
Family, friends and survivors gathered in England Friday, to honour a group of Canadian sailors who lost their lives not in war, but during a peace time disaster 40 years ago.
They gathered at a cemetery near Plymouth to mark the anniversary of the explosion that took the lives of nine crew members on HMCS Kootenay off the coast of England in 1969.
"We are here today to pay tribute to former shipmates who we had to leave behind," said survivor John Montague.
The destroyer was on exercises 320 kilometres from Plymouth, when a gearbox overheated and caused the explosion. The rest of the ship filled with thick, oily smoke.
It was the worst peace time accident in the Canadian Navy's history.
There have been other memorials since the fire, but this is the first time people gathered in England at the cemetery where some of the dead are buried.
Survivors who told their stories talked of the heroism of their colleagues, who fought their way through the flames to rescue victims who lay helplessly near death.
"They exceeded any standard wanted for training and they had guts," said the ship's commanding officer Neil Norton.
Al Kennedy survived the disaster but was one of 53 people who suffered severe burns.
"I didn't know they were dead at that point," he said.
"I just thought that I'd never see my wife and young son again."
Military casualties were not repatriated back then, so five victims were buried at sea according to the wishes of their families.
Four more were buried in the cemetery, surrounded by 2,400 other Canadians who died fighting for their country, many of them during the two world wars.
"I have to remember my father, that's not a question," said Dan Boudreau, a son of one of the victims. He was just 10 years old when he lost his father.
"All of these people are part of the family that was with my father, so I will remember with them," he said.
They are remembering the crew as courageous sailors who left a lasting heroic legacy for future generations.
What they did that day became part of navy training, as they saved a burning ship they refused to abandon. The ship was later repaired and had a lengthy naval career, being decommissioned in 1995.
"A very old friend told me once 'you don't do that until you have a better place to go. There was no better place'," Norton said.
-With a report from CTV's Tom Kennedy
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091002/HMCS_Kootenay_091002/20091002?hub=Canada
By: CTV.ca News Staff
Date: Fri. Oct. 2 2009 9:07 PM ET
Family, friends and survivors gathered in England Friday, to honour a group of Canadian sailors who lost their lives not in war, but during a peace time disaster 40 years ago.
They gathered at a cemetery near Plymouth to mark the anniversary of the explosion that took the lives of nine crew members on HMCS Kootenay off the coast of England in 1969.
"We are here today to pay tribute to former shipmates who we had to leave behind," said survivor John Montague.
The destroyer was on exercises 320 kilometres from Plymouth, when a gearbox overheated and caused the explosion. The rest of the ship filled with thick, oily smoke.
It was the worst peace time accident in the Canadian Navy's history.
There have been other memorials since the fire, but this is the first time people gathered in England at the cemetery where some of the dead are buried.
Survivors who told their stories talked of the heroism of their colleagues, who fought their way through the flames to rescue victims who lay helplessly near death.
"They exceeded any standard wanted for training and they had guts," said the ship's commanding officer Neil Norton.
Al Kennedy survived the disaster but was one of 53 people who suffered severe burns.
"I didn't know they were dead at that point," he said.
"I just thought that I'd never see my wife and young son again."
Military casualties were not repatriated back then, so five victims were buried at sea according to the wishes of their families.
Four more were buried in the cemetery, surrounded by 2,400 other Canadians who died fighting for their country, many of them during the two world wars.
"I have to remember my father, that's not a question," said Dan Boudreau, a son of one of the victims. He was just 10 years old when he lost his father.
"All of these people are part of the family that was with my father, so I will remember with them," he said.
They are remembering the crew as courageous sailors who left a lasting heroic legacy for future generations.
What they did that day became part of navy training, as they saved a burning ship they refused to abandon. The ship was later repaired and had a lengthy naval career, being decommissioned in 1995.
"A very old friend told me once 'you don't do that until you have a better place to go. There was no better place'," Norton said.
-With a report from CTV's Tom Kennedy
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091002/HMCS_Kootenay_091002/20091002?hub=Canada
