Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: September 26, 1983
• Invested on: December 09, 1983

Shortly after noon, on 13 December 1980, eight-year-old Kenneth (Kenny) Benson rescued his cousin, aged seven. The two children were playing on the ice of the town's harbour when the child, unmindful of Kenny's warnings, walked further in an attempt to check the thickness of the frost- white surface. The thin ice collapsed under his weight and he fell into deep water. Responding to his cries fro help, young Kenny crawled on his hands and knees to the edge of the hole. As the ice cracked all around him, he seized his cousin's partially-removed mitten and, while the latter held on, Kenny pulled him from the water onto solid footing. His quick action almost certainly averted a tragedy.