Medal of Bravery
Awarded on: 1985-04-29
Invested on: 1985-12-06
Harry Lee Barton, M.B.
Léo Émile Saulnier, M.B.
Medal of Bravery
On 3 May 1984, Harry Barton and Léo Saulnier combined their efforts to save a baby girl from a house fire in Iron Bound Cove, in the province of New Brunswick. Mr. Saulnier stopped his car when he saw smoke rising from the roof of a frame house. He ran over and learned from the frantic mother that her two children were trapped inside. Mr. Saulnier climbed a ladder to the porch roof, broke the window and stretched his head and shoulders inside in an attempt to find the child reportedly lying in her crib close to the window. On arrival at the scene, Mr. Barton joined Mr. Saulnier on the roof; he in turn leaned into the smoke filled room and searched without success. Knowing that every second mattered, Mr. Saulnier returned to the window and, with Mr. Barton hanging on to his feet, stretched further into the room, found the baby girl and pulled her to safety. Messrs. Barton and Saulnier tried to enter the living-room to rescue her four-year-old-brother, but by then the flames raged out of control. Sadly, the boy perished.