On the night of January 9, 1990, Cpl. Donald Joseph Phillips, of the Canadian Armed Forces, rescued a young boy from a burning house in Calgary, Alberta. Alerted that the house next door was on fire and that a child was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom, Cpl. Phillips raced to the house and entered twice, but was forced to retreat both times due to the dense smoke. Holding a wet towel over his face, he succeeded in mounting the stairs on his third attempt, entered the burning bedroom and found the unconscious boy whom he grabbed and carried downstairs and out into the fresh air. Cpl. Phillips watched over the injured boy until paramedics arrived.