Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: December 12, 1997
• Invested on: May 15, 1998

On August 28, 1996, Gordon Brown rescued a 14-year-old boy from drowning in the Cascade Gorge in British Columbia. The Christina Lake Fire Department was called to attend to a young teenager who was hanging onto the edge of the rocks, trying to avoid being pulled into the raging river. While his colleagues prepared to lower a man by rope some 75 meters down the gorge, Deputy Fire Chief Brown volunteered to swim upstream, along the rocks. Fighting the current, he succeeded in reaching the boy and handed him his life jacket. Clinging to each other, they started floating down the river but became separated. Without a life jacket, Deputy Fire Chief Brown was pulled under. He managed to resurface and, although exhausted, swam to the panicked youth. He then helped him downstream to a boat where the rescue was completed.