Larry Ryan was born in St. Joseph's. He has been married to Betty for 51 years. They have 10 children and 23 grandchildren. Read his true accounting of the devastating Knights of Columbus fire in 1942.

In 1942 I joined the Militia in St. John's on active service with the Canadian Forces. We were stationed at Shamrock Field in St. John's to undergo training before going overseas. I remember whenever we had time off, some friends and I would go to local dances. It was while I was at a garden party dance in Cape Broyle that the host of Uncle Tim's Barn Dance (a radio show) saw me step dance. He asked if I would be interested in dancing at the barn dance at the Knights of Columbus Hall. I said I would sometime when I was off duty. That is how I came to be at the Knights of Columbus hall on December 12, 1942 when the fire broke out.

I was up on the stage waiting for my turn to dance when all of a sudden there was a big commotion and someone yelled, "She's all afire!" I knew my brother Gabe and some friends of mine were in the audience. The doors were locked from the inside and all the windows were closed with blackout shutters. They were pegged around from the inside with wooden pegs. Everyone ran to try and get the doors open but they all opened in. The people on the outside were trying to push the doors in but they couldn't get them open because there were so many people from the inside trying to get out. While most people had jumped from the stage and started running, I was still standing there when I happened to see a man trying to get the pegs from a shutter. I jumped from the stage and together we pulled it right clear off the window.

I put my fist through six panes of glass. I jumped out the window and he fell on top of me. I could feel the blood squirting. I knew the main artery was cut open. I put my finger on my arm right tight and I ran across Memorial Grounds. There was a car coming along which I stopped and asked the man to take me to the hospital. As we were about to leave, I saw the Canadian Ambulance coming down Parade Street. They brought me to the Canadian Hospital on Lester's Field. There was only one orderly and one nurse on duty when I arrived, but within a couple of minutes the place was full, as ambulances started to arrive with the victims of the fire. There were some burnt right black. One woman was crying, "please do something for me." The doctor said, "we got a soldier bleeding to death, we got to attend to him first."