Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: April 5, 1988
• Invested on: August 19, 1988

At five o'clock in the morning of November 14, 1986, a gas explosion destroyed half of a duplex at CFB Edmonton. The rubble, filled with escaping gas, caught fire and the flames spread rapidly to the remaining half of the building through the broken firewall. The occupants of the destroyed portion of the building were thrown sideways and down, dropping two stories onto the concrete basement floor of the other half of the duplex. Sgt. David Paris, a neighbour, was awakened by the blast. Running to the burning building he saw that the family living in the less-damaged side had escaped. Hearing screams inside he unhesitatingly entered the highly dangerous and unstable structure, finding a man and woman, dazed and disoriented, in the basement. He pushed the man up the basement steps, located the woman under some rubble and carried her to safety. Sgt. Paris then re-entered the building to look for the couple's two children, but was unable to find them and was driven out by smoke, flames and falling debris. Within minutes the entire structure was completely ablaze.