October month recognizes the tragic and fatal ‘accident’ suffered aboard
HMCS Kootenay DDE-258 on October 23rd, 1969 and considered “the worst
peacetime accident in the history of the Royal Canadian Navy”.
See:
https://www.canada.ca/en/navy/services/history/explosion-kootenay.html.
On that day in 1969, eight women became widows and eighteen children
became fatherless.
Several of the surviving crew members from that incident live in the
National Capital Region (NCR). Due to age and situation of some, a long
journey to Halifax to participate in the annual Commemorative Ceremony
is no longer effortless.
The
KOOTENAY ribbon: The ribbon is dark blue representing the dark blue
of the Royal Canadian Navy; the letters are capitalized representing a
“shout out” to those that use social media to convey the message; the
letters are white representing the sacrifice of those lives lost on
October 23rd, 1969; the rest of the ribbon is blank representing the
lives unlived; the pin is straight representing those that unselfishly
went to the aid of their comrades in arms; and the ribbon itself is
curved and folded representing the timeliness of Remembrance.
It is to be worn on the collar nearest the heart; commencing sunrise the
first Thursday in October and removed at sunset on October 23rd.
Ship’s motto: We Are As One
