In the late afternoon of December 19, 1987, a man travelling on a snowmobile on the Saint John River near Grafton, New Brunswick, suddenly fell through the ice. A moment later George Dukeshire drove by and saw someone clinging to the ice edge in the frigid water. Reacting instantly, he stopped, and unable to break off a nearby tree branch, crawled out on the ice, grabbed the man's hand and pulled him out. The two then crawled to the river bank where others helped them up to the road and police took the victim to hospital. Mr. Dukeshire, thinking little of the dramatic rescue he had just made, continued home to warm up.