Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: April 5, 1988
• Invested on: June 10, 1988

On the afternoon of December 27, 1986, two boys playing a game of hockey at the edge of the Trent River near Campbellford, Ontario, accidently shot the puck out onto the frozen surface of the river. When they tried to go after it, both fell through the thin ice five metres from shore. Charmaine McLean, who was eleven years old at the time, was playing outside some distance away when she heard them screaming. After sending her cousin for help, she ran to the river just in time to see one of the boys climb onto the ice and reach shore, but the other was unable to escape. Remembering what she had been taught by a police officer at her school, Charmaine lay down on the ice and crawled towards the hole. Removing her jacket she threw a sleeve towards the boy in the water and told him to grab hold. When he did, his weight started to drag the girl towards the hole. By getting up onto her knees, she was able to stop the slide, and although she was not strong enough to pull the larger boy from the water, she was able to hold him until help arrived.