In Westmount, Que., a mostly anglophone municipality (and rather nice neighbourhood) completely encircled by the city of Montréal, five mailboxes explode in the hours between midnight and dawn. Each mailbox contained a bomb made of four sticks of dynamite and a detonator wired to a cheap pocket watch. The bombs were planted by members of the Front de libération du Québec.

With five explosions already, and no idea how many bombs are planted around the city, the police call in the Army. Every mailbox in town has to be searched-a massive job-and people have to be kept out of harm's way. Five more bombs are found, and the police set out to disarm them as fast as possible.

One of Montréal's few explosives experts is Warrant Officer Second Class Walter "Rocky" Leja of the 3rd Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Engineers. Sergeant-Major Leja has never disarmed a terrorist bomb-few people in Canada have-but he has extensive experience with military ordnance, and he is brave.

Sergeant-Major Leja's first mailbox bomb is near a school, so he tries to hoist it across the street on a hook attached to the aerial ladder of a fire truck. When the clumsy rig knocks the mailbox over, he grabs the bomb and carries it to safety in his hands.

The second bomb is on a crowded downtown street, so Sergeant-Major Leja must either blow it up or make it safe on the spot. He calmly reaches into the mailbox, lifts out the bomb, and dismantles it on the sidewalk.

The third bomb looks just like the second one, and Sergeant-Major Leja decides to treat it the same way. As soon as his left hand touches the package, the bomb explodes, inflicting terrible injuries from which he never recovers.

For conspicuous courage and outstanding devotion to duty, Sergeant-Major Leja receives the George Medal in January 1964. In 1966, he moves to the veterans' hospital at Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., where he remains until his death in 1992.