KENORA, Ont - A former Kenora resident, Joe Ralko, has released a book detailing an often overlooked event in that community's history, which garnered national attention in 1973.
The Devil's Gap provides a firsthand account of what the author calls Canada's first ever suicide bombing.
“I was walking home from high school on the Thursday afternoon before Mother’s Day in 1973,” Ralko said.
“I turned the corner on Main Street in Kenora, Ontario and thought I had walked into the scene of a movie set.”
But it was no movie set. An unknown man had walked into the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce on Main Street, armed with a pistol, a rifle and six sticks of dynamite strapped to his chest.
This was a holdup.
At the time Main Street in Kenora was the only access point to the Trans Canada Highway. This incident effectively shut down the highway.
Ralko was among the hundreds who had lined up on the street to watch the drama unfold.
He had a unique vantage point on the steps of what is now an electronics store. Ralko said he saw a Kenora Police officer Don Milliard walk into the bank, walk out with the robber and then back into the bank.
“They came out a second time and there was a bit of a conversation between the two and I’m only 50 feet away, so I can see this is going on not really understanding what was going on,” he said.
“Milliard has a duffel bag full of money and he goes to throw it in the back of the half-tonne truck and starts to run. The next thing you know you hear the crack of a rifle and as I’m falling to the ground, before I hit the ground, I hear the bomb go off.”
The gunshot heard by Ralko and those who had gathered to watch the event unfold was that of a police marksman, which resulted in the bomb detonating due to a "dead man’s switch" attached to the device.
Ralko went on to become a journalist for the Canadian Press and 33 years later, he decided to write about his experience that day as he recovered from a series of health scares.
“Skin cancer had grown inside my throat and it was very tough to recover,” Ralko said.
“I overcame numerous other health issues, including a second battle with cancer and open heart surgery to finally finish the book last year. I submitted it to 15 Canadian book publishers, two of them read the manuscript and said ‘well thank you very much, but we’re not going to publish this as true crime Canadian history because it reads like a movie. Best of luck self-publishing.’”
Self publish he did, Ralko's book, The Devil's Gap: The Untold Story of Canada's First Suicide Bomber is available for purchase through Amazon and at select retailers in Kenora.
(TBT News)
