VANCOUVER — The bridge that spans the Second Narrows crossing between East Vancouver and the North Shore is known as The Ironworkers Memorial Bridge.
Its name goes all the way back to June 17, 1958.
Lucien Lessard and his colleagues were working on the bridgedeck when it collapsed, crashing into the waters below.
Nineteen people died in the tragedy.
“The bridge came out from underneath our feet and I was just following the locomotive from the deck down to the water. When I hit the water, I don’t really exactly remember. I was running out of air,” said Lessard in an Ironworkers’ Local 97 release. “When I came out of the water, I was lost. I was stunned. I saw some debris floating. I managed to float until a boat fished me out.”
Lessard felt lucky to survive and eventually returned to complete the project.
“I had a broken leg, a broken arm and plenty of bruises. They put me in the back of a pickup and took me to North Vancouver hospital. I spent three or four months there.”
Sixty-eight years later Lessard continues to remember that day and honour the lives that were lost at the annual Ironworkers Bridge Memorial event, organized by Ironworkers Local 97. The event took place yesterday (June 17) at New Brighton Park in Vancouver.
B.C. Labour Minister Jennifer Whiteside was in attendance at the event and shared remarks in remembrance.
Ironworkers Local 97 business manager Doug Parton said in the release the memorial is an opportunity to remember the sacrifices of workers who came before us and to re-commit to safety.
“Every year we come together to remember this tragic day and pay respects to those who died,” said Parton. “This incident reminds us that when safety takes a back seat at work, things can go badly very quickly.”