Star of Courage

• Awarded on: August 4, 1987
• Invested on: September 25, 1987

Paul Nelson Bartlett, S.C.
Bill John Harvey, S.C.
Reginald John Havery, S.C.
Star of Courage

On the evening of January 11, 1986, ambulance attendant Paul Bartlett and volunteer firefighters Bill Harvey and Reginald Havery responded to calls for help following an accidental gas explosion at the historic Villeneuve Castle Restaurant in Picton, Ontario. The explosion had destroyed the main dining area and caused the second floor of the structure to collapse on several patrons. Messrs. Harvey and Havery, arriving ahead of Mr. Bartlett, entered the building through a hole in a wall and located one woman, buried from head to waist, whom they helped to extricate from the debris composed of beams, boards, plaster, tables and chairs. Mr. Bartlett, having attended to the injured outside, also crawled through the hole and assisted Mr. Harvey in freeing a male victim and carrying him outside, both of them balancing on exposed floor joists. All concerned were aware of the danger posed by damaged electrical wiring, small fires and leaking propane and natural gases. Returning and tunnelling under the debris and collapsed ceiling, Mr. Harvey located two women, one buried and the other with her arm pinned under a beam. He was joined by Mr. Bartlett and, unable to shift this beam even with a crowbar, they called to Mr. Havery, who had been assisting in the removal of a body, and he obtained a small hydraulic jack which he used to lift the beam. Throughout this procedure, they risked an incipient collapse of the tunnel they had made to access the victims. Once the beam was lifted, Mr. Bartlett helped the woman free herself, escorted her outside, then returned. He and Mr. Harvey excavated the other woman from the rubble, Mr. Bartlett making himself into a human stretcher, by crawling on his stomach with the woman on his back, in order to get her out. Once this victim was safe, all three continued with their duties, searching for further victims and attending to the injured.