Rescue Commendation Presentation Ceremony

                                                   April 5, 2005

The LIFESAVING SOCIETY is honoured to be able to present Rescue Commendation Certificates today.   Rescue Commendation Certificates acknowledge the selfless acts showing resourcefulness and bravery in an aquatic setting, which save the life of another human being.

I will provide the details of each rescue and then ask the recipient to step forward to accept his or her award.

CLARENCE HAAS

VINCENT HAAS, JR.

On October 31, 2000 brothers Clarence and Vincent Haas were bird hunting about 1 kilometre north of Brent’s Cove.  That timing allowed the men to reach a drowning man before his luck ran out 

Rick Andrews was another bird hunter whose boat was swamped by a large wave, flipping the boat and knocking the man into the water.  Rick tried to turn his boat over twice, each time another wave swept it back over. He waited for someone to come by, being taken under the waves as he hung onto his boat.  He saw two boats off in the distance and tried to haul himself up onto his boat to wave for help.  On the second attempt the Haas brothers saw him.

Clarence & Vincent Haas arrived on the scene and tried to use a gaff to haul him in, but their boat was being tossed about in the sea and Rick managed to knock the gaff out of their hands.  They then tried their bird net which was successful.  With large waves coming in over all of them, they managed to get the victim to the side of the boat and roll him in.

Everyone was standing up to their knees in water that had come in over the side as they were hauling him in.  The brothers then turned the boat into calmer waters to bail water out of the boat and head for shore.  Rick Andrews was brought to the La Scie clinic to be treated and released 

Would Clarence Haas and Vincent Haas, Jr. please come forward to accept their Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour.

GERARD LEE

On June 23,2004 at 5:30am Mr Lee and his fishing companion Fred Walsh, set out of a full day of fishing at Southwest Brook.  After arriving at their destination, Mr Lee decided to go a little futher downstream to cast out.  Shortly after, he heard a loud sound and looked to see a person’s head floating down in the wild rapids.  It was his friend Fred Walsh.  Fred had his chest waders and pack sack on and couldn’t stay afloat and kept submerging in the water for longer and longer periods of time 

Gerard recognized that the water was too fast and deep to try to save Fred himself and neither he nor Fred could swim.  As Fred’s pack surfaced a few minutes later about 50 feet from him, Gerard cast his rod and caught his hook on Fred’s pack, suddenly realizing that Fred was still attached to it.  The fly line held and was strong enough to pull him close enough to shore that Gerard could wade out and bring the unconscious man closer to shore 

Gerard had taken a first aid course 3 years previously and everything he had learned came back swiftly to him as he worked for 5 minutes on Fred, administering CPR before he revived.  With the assistance of other fishermen there, assistance was called for and Fred warmed til emergency services could arrive. Mr Walsh was taken to hospital and spent some time in Intensive Care before being released.

Would Gerard Lee. please come forward to accept his Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

TREVOR BLANCHARD

The quick thinking and courageous action of Trevor Blanchard saved the life of a local Roddickton teenager, Justin Pittman.

On December 27, 2003 Justin Pittman’s snowmobile broke through the ice near the Roddicton Harbour.  Firefighters Trevor Blanchard and Nelson Pilgrim arrived at the scene to find the victim Justin Pittman, clinging to the ice, having fallen through into the water.  A man living near the shoreline owned a small boat that the fire department accessed, using the boat to break out onto the ice to reach Mr Pittman.

Trevor Blanchard realized that the ice would not support him, so quickly tied a rope around himself and took a ladder to use as a sled to reach Nelson Pilgrim who was in the boat that broke through the ice.  

The boat and the ladder were used to pull Pittman from the water and out of the ice who was in the water for approximately 20 minutes before being rescue.  Pittman was conscious but turning blue.  He was brought to the community health centre where he was treated and released.

Would Trevor Blanchard  please come forward to accept his Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

CONRAD DURNFORD

On March 16, 1978, in a harbour near Burgeo, Roy Marsden boat had overturned while dropping a mooring overboard.  Roy was on top of his overturned boat as Conrad Durnford arrived on the scene.  Roy was screaming ‘I can’t swim’ repeatedly.  As his boat sank, he fell into the icy water. 

Conrad went to the water’s edge, took off his work boots and winter coat and jumped into the water, swimming out to Roy.  By that time Roy had submerged 3 times, so Conrad dived under, grabbed Roy by his collar and pulled him to surface, swimming ashore with him.  Conrad then rolled him on his side on the beach and patted him on the back.  Roy coughed up water and recovered with the assistance of Conrad.

Would Conrad Durnford  please come forward to accept his Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

WILLIAM STANDING

In the summer of 1982, William standing and his friend jerry Warren were crossing Wood-Hill Brook in a cut off drum.  The drum capsized in the water and Jerry could not swim.  William kicked off his rubber boots and swam across the brook with Jerry under his arm.  His resourcefulness and quick thinking prevented a tragedy.

Would William Standing  please come forward to accept his Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

LYNN PIKE

JOY BEST

As a young girl in Moreton’s Harbour, Lynn, her sister Joy and friend Lisa Critch were taking a shortcut across the harbour late one evening.  It was dark and they didn’t realize they were walking straight towards open water. They had walked a few metres out from shore and were testing some smooth ice to see if it was frozen. Their friend Lisa volunteered to walk over it first.  With her first step the ice started to crack and she took two more steps away before breaking through completely to her shoulders.  Each time she tried to pull herself up, the ice would break away under her arms..

Lynn and Joy quickly reacted telling her to keep calm and to try to come towards them, breaking the ice as she came.  Lynn stayed on the solid ice towards the shore and held Joy’s feet to form a chain that stretched out over the cracked ice. Joy grasped Lisa’s hand and pulled her to safety.  They then proceeded to remove her wet clothing and put their own dry clothes on her, taking her to a nearby house for assistance.

Would Lynn Pike  and Joy Best please come forward to accept their Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

DORMAN COMPTON

JOHN HOPKINS

Allistair Compton left Englee on January 27, 2004 in an open boat to hunt seals.  He was using a gaff to haul one he’d shot over the edge of his small boat when the gaff slipped out of the carcass, causing him to lose his balance and fall into the water, capsizing the boat in the process.

After struggling for 10 minutes to right the boat Allistair swam 50 feet to a patch of slob ice which was packed into the harbour.  He tried to pull himself up onto the ice but it kept breaking under his weight and each try made him progressively more tired and colder.

John Hopkins and Dorman Compton were the first people on shore to realize that Allistair Compton was in trouble.  The two men strapped on snowshoes, grabbed a short length of rope and headed out across the slob ice towards the man.

When they reached him, he told them he was too weak to hold on, but they encouraged him to hold on.  There was about 20 feet of water between Allistair and his rescuers, consisting of slob ice which they had to navigate carefully so that didn’t fall in too.  The men threw him a rope which he wrapped around his arm and they pulled him onto the ice.  Another rope was brought to the harbour and Dorman went ashore to retrieve one end and brought it back to tie around Allistair.  Allistair Compton was in the icy water for about 45 minutes before being hauled to shore and taken to hospital.

Would Dorman Compton and John Hopkins  please come forward to accept their Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

ALICE CLEARY

In 1953, Alice Cleary was 27 years old and a mother of 3 children when she saved the son of her next door neighbour from drowning. 

She was on holiday one summer’s Sunday at  Kent’s Pond and saw Jerome Reardigan  struggling in the water for his life. Heedless of her own danger, she removed her dress and leaving her own three young children sitting watching, dived into the water. With sure strokes reached the panicky boy and took control of the14 year old after he had gone down for the second time.  Mrs Cleary then continued to cross the pond to the other side with the boy instead of turning back.  When she reached the shore she was near exhaustion.

Would Alice Cleary  please come forward to accept her Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

LORNE HYNES

In the mid to late 70’s Lorne Hynes was camping with his family at Indian river Park.  Around lunchtime his young son wanted to go for a swim in the river.  When they reached the river there was a mother with her four children and the father a short distance away.  The children were playing in the water when suddenly Lorne heard the mother screaming for help as two of the younger boys were swept off their feet into deeper water by the swift current.

Lorne quickly realized they were in trouble and ran into the water, swimming out to reach one boy and bringing him back to shore.  He then looked for the other boy but could only see the top of his head in the water.  He swam out to him and managed to bring him back to shore.  Both boys survived what could have been a tragic end had it not been for the selfless act of Lorne Hynes.

Would Lorne Hynes  please come forward to accept his Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

REBECCA BOUZANE

Ten year old Denis LeBlanc from Ontario decided to visit Thunder Brook with his brother Simon and friends Rebecca and Jeremy.  They were accompanied by Jeremy’s father.

Denis was wading in a shallow part of the pool when he slipped of a rock and fell into deep water.  He couldn’t swim and started to panic, going under water several times, swallowing water.

Rebecca was playing in deeper water with her other friend and she turned around to see Denis going under the water and not coming up for a long time.  She tried to pull over to the rocks but couldn’t do so.  So she swam under him and put him on her back and swam to the rock with him.  Once Denis climbed onto the rock it didn’t take long for him to recover.

Would Rebecca Bouzane please come forward to accept her Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

KEVIN PARSONS

SOLOMON EVERSON

RONALD EVERSON

BERNARD EVERSON

On November 16, 1949, four men from Flatrock saved the life of US Navy Lt. Henry (Hank) Henderson.  Mr Henderson was the sole occupant of a plan which had flown to the US naval base in Argentia from the American carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt to discharge a number of servicemen going on leave.  Henderson was returning to the ship in company with three other planes when at approximately 2800 feet, 18 miles west/northwest of St. John’s, the engine on his Sky raider AD-IQ failed and he was forced down into the sea off Flatrock.

These four men immediately launched their dory from the rocky cliff and rowed out to the 20 foot skiff and headed for where the plane had gone down.

When the men arrived at the scene, it was difficult to see the pilot who was in the water with high swells.  The plan had gone down in approximately 300 feet of water and Henderson had jumped out and swam clear.  By the time the rescuers reached him Henderson had been in the Atlantic for almost an hour and was so cold and exhausted he didn’t have the strength to grab hold of the oar the rescuers held out for him.  They dragged him to the boat with a boat hook.  They turned him over to allow salt water to clear out of his mouth and stomach and each man took off some of their own clothes to wrap around the victim and warm him.

The landing on shore was very rough.  The men took Henderson from the boat and carried him hand over and hand to the nearest home where he was given heat, dry clothing and warm drinks.  After an hour he was brought to St. John’s by ambulance where he spent about twelve hours in hospital.

Mr Henderson is alive and well and celebrated his 82^nd birthday on March 3, 2005.  He remembers the day well. Unfortunately, Solomon Everson, Ronald Everson and Bernard Everson are now deceased.  However, the following representatives for these individuals will accept these awards on their behalf.

 Bernadette Hawco          - SOLOMON EVERSON

Jerome Martin                - RONALD EVERSON

Kevin Everson               - BERNARD EVERSON

Would Kevin Parson, Bernadette Hawco, Jerome Martin and Kevin Everson please come forward to accept their Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

CST. STEPHEN KNIGHT

On the afternoon of February 19, 2004 Cst. Stephen Knight and his partner, Cst. Jeff Mackay were assigned to the police van.  They had been dispatched to an area of Bowring Park to a call of a possible suicide attempt in progress.

When they arrived, they observed a 16 year old female standing on the outside ledge of a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Waterford River.  Another female was standing on the bridge trying to reason with the girl.

As the police officers approached the bridge, the girl jumped from the bridge twenty feet below into the chilly running water.   As Cst. Knight reached the bridge, all he could see was the girl’s jacket, she was totally submerged and it didn’t appear that she was going to surface.

He ran across the bridge and stumbled down the steep embankment to the river’s edge, where he jumped in and started wading towards the girl’s jacket.  He was unsure of the depth of the water and suddenly slipped on the rocks and went from chest deep up to his neck.

The girl was caught in a run off from the waterfall above but Cst Knight managed to grab hold of her and drag her back out of the pool, but unfortunately into the current of the river.  The quick action of Cst Mackay saved both the girl and Cst. Knight  from being carried further down the river to a deepr pool where they could have been forced under the ice.  Cst. Mackay had restrained the Good Samaritan from almost jumping into the water herself and then slid down the opposite bank and onto a small cliff, holding out his arm for Cst Knight to grab. Other officers quickly came onto the scene to assist and pull the girl from the water to ground level and deal with her injuries 

Cst. Mackay was approached by the Lifesaving Society to accept a Rescue Commendation for his efforts in this rescue, but declined. The Society would like to extend thanks and acknowledge the action of Cst. Mackay and the rest of the RNC team who worked in this rescue.

Would Cst. Stephen Knight  please come forward to accept his Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

ZACHARY CLARKE

DANNY SAUNDERS

On April 8, 2003, Zachary Clarke and Danny Saunders were walking across the beach of Halls Bay, Springdale with their friend Alisha Rose to look for old glass that had washed ashore. The cool spring nights that week had left a thin cover of ice on the salt water and when Alisha slipped from the beach ice onto the bay ice, she suddenly went through. 

When she went through the ice the boys began to devise a plan to aid their friend without endangering themselves.  They couldn’t see the sea bottom and knew the water would be over their heads.  The boys were getting worried about their friend whose efforts to save herself was taking her further out to sea.

The boys linked hands and Zachary ventured out onto the ice to attempt a rescue.  The ice was too weak to take his weigh and he ended nearly falling through and pulling Danny into the water as well.  Once in the water, Zachary began rolling his body through the water, trying to get close to Alisha before his snowmobile suit absorbed enough water to drag him under.  Zachary got behind Alisha and began pushing her toward shore and into Danny’s grasp.

After Zachary managed to get her close enough for Danny to get a grip he got back to the edge of the ice and got a helping hand crawling back out of the water.  He then joined Danny to getting Alisha out of the water.  They got her to her home which was close by where she recovered.

Would Zachary Clarke and Danny Saunders  please come forward to accept their Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

NORMAN MORRIS

EARL HARVEY

In July 1984 Allan Bowers was on vacation with friends, including Norman Morris, traveling to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick then on to the USA when they stopped in Debert, NS to visit friends Earl Harvey and his wife.  On the way they stopped in Stellerton to pick up a friends 10 year old nephew, William who was going to accompany them. 

When they reached Calais Maine, it was night and while they were setting up the campers, William was outside playing with a friend from the campers near by.  They were playing in a man made pool no more than 2 feet deep,b ut about 20 feet from shore it had an overhang of ten feet deep.  The boys didn’t realize how close they were to the drop off, til they both fell over the edge about ten feet down clinging to one another.

Once they knew about the incident Norman Morris ran to the pool as fast as possible with the others behind him.  He dived to the bottom where the boys were still clinging to each other.  He got them apart and pushed the other boy upward where he made it to shore with a little help.  William’s situation demanded more serious attention.  Just as William’s lifeless body broke the surface, Earl instinctively grabbed him by the hair and pulled him toward the shore until he was able to be lifted to safety.  On shore he was put into the recovery position and soon was revived.

Would Earl Harvey & Norman Morris  please come forward to accept their Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

CLAYTON STRATTON

HOWARD GREENE

On a sunny day in mid-July 1999 Howard Green was fishing on the top pool of Gander River.  He heard someone call out that there was a man who had fallen into the river.  As he looked around he saw Walter Crummell on the other side of the river waving his arms and pointing down the river.  After a few minutes he could see a white cap by a rock.  Then he realized there was a  man , Percy Chaytor, in the river so he started running down the shroe.  IT was about 300 feet to get to Percy.  When he got within about 100 feet of Percy  he had to cross over to a small island just up river from him, so he took off his vest and chest waders.  He then saw a wooden beam which he tried to lift but it kept falling back.  He was hoping to swim out to the man with the beam but it was too heavy to get in to the river.

Shortly after his struggle with the beam, Clayton Stratton showed up with a small aluminum boat with an outboard motor.  Howard jumped into the boat and tied 3 or 4 pieces of rope together and tied it to a grapple so they could stop the boar from going down the river. 

When they reached Percy it was all they could do to keep the boat from going down the river because the motor was too small for the fast moving cold water.  Percy grabbed the side of the boat then Howard guided him to a rock under water for him to stand up on and then pulled him into the boat by his waders.  This was difficult as his waders were filled with water and they were still fighting the current in the small boat.

Percy was taken off the boat with the assistance of others who helped get him to safety.

Would Clayton Stratton & Howard Greene  please come forward to accept their Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

DOUGLAS WHITE

On  March 13, 1933 Douglas White was 16 and on his way bird hunting along with his brother Mike 15 and Anthony Dray, 13.  They left Big Bonah in a small punt when they thought they saw some birds about ¼ of a mile in the distance on a sunker called the Grampas which were out of the water at ½ tide.  Mike and Anthony were the first to get ashore and when Douglas took the rope and jumped ashore, he realized that the rope had slipped thorught the ringbolt of the boat and it was drifting off.

Now there were three of them on the rock, the boat was drifting off and the tide coming in.  Of the three boys, Doug was the only one who could swim and said he would try to make it to shore.  He removed his rubber boots, coveralls and heavy sweater and jumped into the water. He finally reached the shore at a place called Grampas Point where he climbed the cliff, nearly losing his hold.  Doug then walked ½ mile through the snow to the eastern point of Little Bonah where he called for help til some men in the community came to his assistance. 

They immediately sent out a boat to the sunker to rescue the two boys who were now up to their knees in water in the rapidly rising tide. Doug was picked up on the shore, having lost his father’s gun and his own boots, but all boys surviving what could have been a tragedy.

Would Douglas White please come forward to accept his Rescue Commendation Certificates from His Honour

 
The following Rescue Commendation recipients were unable to be with us to receive their awards today. They all demonstrated merit, resourcefulness, courage and personal bravery for outstanding rescues.

TREVOR BLANCHARD

DORMAN COMPTON

CONRAD DURNFORD

HOWARD GREENE

WILLIAM STANDING

CLAYTON STRATTON

The Lifesaving Society accepts the awards on behalf of these recipients and will ensure they receive their awards and are duly recognized.

 
This concludes the LIFESAVING SOCIETY award presentations.

 
‘Please rise for the departure of Their Honours’.

After Their Honours depart

Their Honours are kindly hosting a reception for award recipients and guests in the Ball Room.  You are invited to join the reception line to be introduced to Their Honours and proceed to the reception.  Please ensure that you have completed your presentation card which will be handed to the Aide de Camp prior to you being presented to Their Honours.  If you have not completed a card, you may find them at the entrance of the building.

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LOOKING FOR HEROES

If you know of someone who has perfomed an aquatic rescue within the last two years please forward his or her name for a Rescue Commendation or M.G.Griffiths Certificate download a nomination form and submit this to the Lifesaving Society's Branch Office.   Rescue Commendations are provided to individuals who have performed aquatic rescues that put their own lives at risk to rescue another, but who hav enot had any formal lifesaving training.

M.G. Griffiths Certificates are presented to individuals who have performed outstanding aquatic rescues and who have some Lifesaving Society traning.

If you would like to nominate an individual for a Rescue Commendation or M.G.Griffiths Certificate, please download a nomination form, complete and return it to our Branch office.

If  you are an affiliate and wish to nominate an individual for a Commonwealth Honour Award, please download the nomination form, complete and return it to the NL Branch by December 31st.

Udated March 29, 2005

Comments?  Contact us at lifeguard@nl.rogers.com

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