Medals Awarded

Master Corporal David Michael Pawulski, S.C., C.D.,
Waterville, Nova Scotia
Star of Courage

On July 18, 2002, MCpl Pawulski, then Cpl, saved the life of a fellow crew member after their helicopter crashed in a heavily wooded area of northeastern Labrador. Following the aircraft's violent collision with the ground, MCpl Pawulski managed to extricate himself from the wreckage, in spite of serious back and neck fractures.

Using a satellite phone, he placed a distress call after assessing the condition of his three teammates. With the still-roaring engines posing a serious threat, MCpl Pawulski freed the other surviving crew member from the twisted debris and dragged him away from the wreckage to render first aid. In spite of fading daylight and heavy rain, MCpl Pawulski, ignoring the pain from his own injuries, spent the next two and a half hours preparing signals for a search and rescue team to locate the site and airlift them to safety. Sadly, the tragedy claimed the lives of the two pilots.

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Master Corporal Joseph Carl Steeve Bédard, M.B., C.D., Greenwood, Nova Scotia
Sergeant Joseph André Hotton, M.B., C.D., Berwick, Nova Scotia
Medal of Bravery

 

On September 30, 2002, Search and Rescue technicians MCpl Steeve Bédard and Sgt André Hotton rescued a severely injured man following a helicopter crash in a rugged and mountainous area near Natashquan, Quebec.

During the last moments of daylight, the rescue team of a Hercules aircraft located the helicopter on a steep embankment in a deep river valley. Without concern for their own safety, Sgt Hotton and MCpl Bédard parachuted into the heavily forested crash site. Using improvisational means, they managed to free the sole survivor trapped in the crushed wreckage. In the cold and dark, they cared for the suffering man until a rescue helicopter arrived to airlift them to safety, some seven hours later.