Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: January 19, 1976
• Invested on: February 16, 1976

On November 12, 1971 when he could have escaped from an Air Canada DC8 which had been hijacked on a flight out of Calgary, Alberta, Assistant Purser Philippe Bonny, at great risk to his own life, elected to remain by the side of fellow crew members and face the consequences until the end of the ordeal. On numerous instances, when he was ordered at gunpoint to carry messages to the Captain and was physically harassed by the excitable hijacker, Mr. Bonny displayed a marked degree of self-restraint and contributed to the moral stamina of the crew. At Great Falls, Montana, after their lives had been continually threatened for several hours, all of the passengers, along with part of the crew, were ordered by the extortionist to disembark. It was while assisting the passengers off the plane that Assistant Purser Bonny had the opportunity to leave, but chose, instead, to rejoin his comrades and share in their ordeal, with no assurance that his life would be spared. In a joint effort with the other men, he overpowered the aggressor, thus bringing the drama to an end.