'Everyone was on fire': Survivors mark 50th anniversary of HMCS Kootenay disaster

Survivors of a deadly explosion and fire aboard HMCS Kootenay gathered in Halifax on Wednesday to remember those who died in the worst peacetime disaster in Canadian Naval history. 

A gearbox ignited in the vessel's engine room on the morning of Oct. 23, 1969, while the Royal Canadian Navy destroyer was participating in training exercises in the English Channel. 

As the ship was evacuated, crew members battled the fire and rescued anyone they could reach. Nine people were killed and 53 others were injured.

A bell rang out on Wednesday and a Canadian Forces helicopter flew over the commemorative service at Point Pleasant Park in Halifax while survivors, proudly wearing HMCS Kootenay jackets and ribbons, reflected on the disaster that has shaped their lives for half a century.

Nine wreaths adorned with purple ribbons and the words "Lest We Forget" were laid at the foot of a memorial in the park — an area that is a tribute to all Canadian military members who have lost their lives at sea.

Alan Kennedy was in the engine room when the gearbox exploded, with painful memories of the searing fire and heat that was everywhere.

"I'm not sure I'm going to get out of this," said Kennedy, recalling his thoughts as smoke and flames spread through the destroyer. "I'm not sure whether I'm ever going to get out and see my wife and my young son again."

Douglas Moore recalls the gripping fear as he entered the charred ship to recover the bodies.

"I had to deal with the dirty deeds and I was one of the ones who was taking bodies out of the engine room," said Moore. "It all stays in your head."

Undiagnosed wounds

Moore and other survivors were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder decades before the term existed.

Crew members were told to get on with their lives and to have a beer, or something stronger, to dull the stress. Some members of the Kootenay family, including Jim Oliver, became alcoholics as a result.

"They kicked you in the butt [and said] get on with it ... Have another drink," he said.

Oliver has been sober for years and he thanks fellow crew member Allan "Dinger" Bell, who has been the glue that keeps the Kootenay family together 50 years later.

Aside from taking care of his men, he also keeps alive the memories of those who died, including Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Vaino Partanen, who called to warn the ship's captain about the engine-room fire before losing his life.

But for some, like Partanen's daughter Lesley — who was 13 when her father died — Wednesday's ceremony was too difficult to attend.

Speaking from her home in Halifax, she pored over mementos from her father's life, including the Canadian flag that covered his casket and a photo album of his funeral in England that she and her late mother were unable to attend.

Buried overseas

At the time of the Kootenay disaster, Canada did not repatriate its military casualties and four of the victims were buried at sea.

Four others were laid to rest at the cemetery near Plymouth, England, surrounded by 2,400 Canadians who lost their lives in battle, most of them during the two world wars.

Canada changed the overseas burial tradition following what happened on HMCS Kootenay.

Lesley Partanen's other memory of her father's sacrifice is his posthumous Cross of Valour — the first ever awarded. His daughter recently donated the medal to the Naval Museum of Halifax.

"So that people will understand he did something wonderful and he should be recognized for it," she said, her voice cracking.