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Fiormer Black Watch cadets attend reunion of D Coy. 1974 grenade tragedy

April 28, 2010 Add comment

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Former Black Watch cadets attend reunion of D Coy 1974 grenade tragedy By MWO Eric Maura CD, Ret’d It was an overcast afternoon threatening rain on July 30^th, 1974 at the cadet camp in CFB Valcartier. We had just finished lunch and a small group of the cadets were tasked to help return weapons to the vault after we had gone through some familiarization training with the FNC1 rifle. The remainder of D Coy, about 125 cadets prepared one of the barracks for a lecture on explosives by pushing back all of the bunk beds to make room so that we could all sit on the floor. There was a sense of excitement as we were being exposed to some “really neat stuff” that was being used by real soldiers up on the base. The regular army captain and ordnance expert passed out some of the dummy (blue painted) explosive devices for us to have a closer look at and we passed them around for everyone to see. When he reached into the box once again and pulled out a green coloured grenade, it caught our interest right away. “Why was this one different?” we asked ourselves.

About a minute later and directly in my line of sight a few feet in front of me there appeared a bright flash of light and a deafening and sickly sound of something gone terribly wrong. There was smoke and the smell of burnt explosive, and the constant loud gong sound in my ears that would not stop for many hours later. There were bodies on the floor directly in front of me and I could just barely hear screaming as I started to notice movement of so many kids trying to get out through the one doorway at the front. I noticed that my clothes were no longer the khaki green colour and that there were many holes and shredded parts to what I was wearing.

I spent the next three weeks in the hospital in Quebec City recovering from surgeries to remove shrapnel mostly in my legs and to repair my right eye as well. Over forty other cadets who had been injured underwent their own experiences in the hospital, some overnight and some for longer periods of time. Six young cadets were killed that day, all aged 14 and 15. As I stand on parade on this day, 30 July 2009, I look through our ranks at all the faces and hardly recognize most of our thirty-five former cadets who turned out for this event. It’s been a full thirty-five years since that awful day when we were young, vibrant and excited about our futures, each proudly representing our cadet corps and regimental affiliations. I’m surprised to see how many have carried on serving in the reserves and the regular armed forces, some still in uniform and full of medals. Even Sgt. Munizaga of The Black Watch was with us having taken a leave of absence from police mentoring and patrolling with the US Army in Afghanistan to where he returned a few days later to continue his tour. Others left the cadets and went on to other civilian careers. Most of us had not been in contact with each other nor had we spoken about our experience of that summer very much since then. It was truly a black cloud that had hung over us over the years and there was much emotion shared during our reunion. There stands a memorial now, a plaque affixed to a boulder at the former site of the D Coy barracks as well as a monument at the head of the parade square with the names of the cadets who had been killed that summer. This parade now takes place by the cadets residing at camp every summer on 30 July to remember this senseless accident. As I view the roughly two thousand cadets on parade I think back to my own youth at the time when I was parading in the same way and undergoing the same adventure training, the camping and the many military style tasks we were led to perform during our cadet training and I can’t help but feel their excitement. Their morale is high and each company seems to have a song or cheer as they march on. I see young people participating in meaningful activity where they learn discipline, leadership, responsibility, friendship, teamwork and other positive attributes of the cadet program in promoting good citizens. After the parade, lunch was in the officers’ mess in which we all agreed the food hasn’t changed a bit. We were treated to a visit to one of their adventure training areas, an incredible rope bridge and obstacle complex high up in the trees. We ended the day with a good dinner and some moving speeches. As part of our youth was stolen from us that year we reconciled ourselves with some more pleasant memories and war stories about our experiences leading to our current lives. It was great to see each other again and catch up on things. Much credit goes out to our D Coy CSM, Sgt. Charles Gutta MMM CD Ret’d then serving with 12e RBC for his tireless initiative in organizing this 35^th anniversary and who was also celebrating with his wife their 50^th anniversary.

NOTE:

There are some that wanted to be here, but because of work or family commitments, they could not. There are others that were just unable to come back. It was too painful for them.

Tags: cfb valcartier québec cadet army training center

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Charlie (5 Days Ago)

124 Days Ago)PIC. Members of D Company 1974 W.O. Gleen Souva CD - MWO ret. Eric Maura CD and

CIC Capt Ret. Gerry Fostaty

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Charlie
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I was a cadet corporal instructor with “D” Company at the Valcartier cadet camp in 1974.

I was recently contacted by a fellow cadet NCO f