When Allan Bell showed up for his monthly breakfast with former shipmates of HMCS Kootenay in Dartmouth, N.S., in December, he quickly learned that a number of them were upset about a local newspaper article. It was about a sailor who had been compensated for harm he said he experienced in a fire on a Canadian warship more than 50 years ago.
The veterans were concerned because they don’t believe the fire happened.
The Department of National Defence also says there is no record of the fire.
“There’s just too much wrong,” said Bell, who goes by the name Dinger and is a survivor
