Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: December 20, 1974
• Invested on: April 03, 1975

Private Joseph Mike Belley, M.B.
Private Joseph Gilles Pelletier, M.B.
Corporal Joseph Roland Michel Whelan, M.B.
Medal of Bravery

On July 23, 1974, during the war in Cyprus, a Canadian patrol, conducting a group of combatants out of a UN controlled area, came under fire. Some combatant soldiers were killed and others wounded and the Canadian officer leading the patrol sustained wounds. One of his men who began to render first aid to the fallen officer was also hit. At the bottom of a creek bed, the victims were exposed to continuing machine gun fire. Corporal Whelan and Privates Belley and Pelletier volunteered to join a rescue party. In these hazardous circumstances, they assisted in carrying the wounded officer out of the danger area. Privates Belley and Pelletier then returned, scrambled down to the creek bed, and lifted and brought the other wounded man to safety.