From Today I Found Out.

It was a rainy afternoon in July 1974 when the Royal Canadian Army Cadets of D Company filed into a classroom at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, Quebec. The Cadets, all boys aged 13 to 18, were glad for the chance to sit down and relax, having just undergone a rigorous inspection of their barracks and hours of marching drill in the rain. They were about to receive a lecture on explosives safety, delivered by guest presenter Captain Jean-Claude Giroux. To help with his lecture, Captain Giroux had brought along some visual aids: dummies of various explosive ordnance including land mines, rocket projectiles, and hand grenades. All were painted bright colours to indicate that they were inert and safe. But as the lecture began and the visual aids were passed around the room, Captain Giroux noticed something odd: among the brightly-coloured dummies was one item – an M-61 fragmentation hand grenade – painted olive green, just like a live munition. However, he thought little of it, for the dummies had been handled by dependable weapons technicians who would have ensured that everything was safe. But then, at 2:17 PM, an explosion ripped through the packed classroom, shattering the windows and splattering the walls with blood. When the smoke cleared six Cadets lay dead and 54 were wounded. The Valcartier Grenade incident of July 30, 1974 was the worst tragedy in the history of the Army Cadets, yet within days it would be all but forgotten, swept under the rug by a military establishment unprepared to deal with the psychological fallout. But while the Army and the nation quickly moved on, for the survivors the aftereffects of that terrible day would linger for far longer.

Author: Gilles Messier
Host: Simon Whistler
Editor: Daven Hiskey
Producer: Samuel Avila