Gerry Fostaty Speaking at the Royal Canadian Legion

Wednesday, February 8, 2012 - 7:00pm

The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 6
1450 2nd Avenue W.
Owen Sound, ON
N4K 5P3

n the summer of 1974, six teenage boys died and fifty-four were injured in an explosion on a Canadian Forces Base in Valcartier, Quebec. A live grenade inadvertently made its way into a box of dud ammunition, and its pin was pulled during a lecture on explosives safety. One hundred and forty boys survived, each isolated in their trauma, yet expected to carry on with their lives.

Thirty-four years later, Gerry Fostaty, who was an 18-year-old sergeant that summer and one of the first on the scene after the explosion, received an unexpected e-mail from his former sergeant-major, triggering a journey into memory, a quest for a true picture of what had happened on that day. In As You Were The Tragedy at Valcartier, Gerry pieces together the story of how a series of preventable mistakes led to tragedy.

Now, in cooperation with the Meaford Military Family Resource Centre (MFRC), Gerry visits the Royal Canadian Legion to discuss not only the events of that day, but also of his subsequent discovery of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over thirty years later. He will talk about the causes of PTSD, about how this neurological disorder can occur when someone has witnessed or experienced a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death. Using plain language and easy to understand examples, Gerry will discuss the effects of PTSD on the individual, the family, and the community, and the importance of detection and treatment, and how those with PTSD can be treated and turn their lives around.

Gerry Fostaty will be speaking at The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 6.

This event is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase.