Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: March 14, 1983
• Invested on: June 24, 1983

R.C.M.P. Constable Patrick Daniel Kelly, M.B.
R.C.M.P. Corporal Donald Joseph Ray, M.B.
James Robert Snair, M.B.
Steven Aubrey Snair, M.B.
Sean William Whynacht, M.B.
Medal of Bravery

On 10 February 1080, R.C.M.P. Cst. Patrick Kelly and Cpl. Don Ray, of the Lunenburg Detachment, along with James Snair and Sean Whynacht, participated in the rescue of four people from drowning in the freezing ocean waters, off Herman's Island, Nova Scotia. The Whynacht family, with two teenaged neighbours, had gone to spend Sunday afternoon at their cottage. The children broke through the ice while walking on the frozen surface to check its thickness for skating. Hearing their cries for help, the woman and, moments later, the man ran toward the struggling teenagers, themselves falling through. The mishap was noticed on shore by James and Steven Snair, two teenagers residents of the area, who pushed a small rowboat over the ice and recovered the woman and two youths. With the added weight any movement in the boat caused water to pour in and they remained stranded. Meanwhile, fourteen-year-old Sean Whynacht had pulled himself out of the water; he reached shore, launched the Family's boat and made his way to his father. When he tried to lift the man, who was face-down in the water, the boat nearly capsized. Cpl. Ray and Cst. Kelly, having arrived on the scene, scrambled aboard a third boat. Using wooden oars, they broke a path through the more solid ice while shouting instructions to young Sean on how to haul his unconscious father aboard. Once he had succeeded in pulling the inert body over the stern, he applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The two policemen then directed the Snair brothers to bail water with their shoes and, with skill and persistence, towed the overcrowded boat toward shore. By this time the Lunenburg Fire Department had arrived on the scene. A line thrown from shore failed to reach its target so Cst. Kelly took a rope from his boat and, crawling on his hands and knees, reached the hand-line. Shortly after, the boats were towed to shore. Cpl. Ray and Cst. Kelly, realizing that Sean's father was in great danger of succumbing to hypothermia, took the hand-line and crawled back over the treacherous ice. The reached the Whynacht's boat, succeeding in bringing father and son to safety. Fortunately no lives were lost.