Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: March 25, 1985
• Invested on: September 27, 1985

Stephen Douglas Densmore, M.B.
Andrew Clifford Holmes, M.B.
Medal of Bravery

Late on the afternoon of 13 December 1983, Stephen Densmore and Andrew Holmes saved an eighty-five-year-old woman from fatal burns following a rear-end collision. The ambulance transporting the woman to hospital for treatment was stopped at an intersection when it was struck by a car, ripping its gas tank open. As burning gasoline spread quickly, Mr. Densmore ran to the side door while Mr. Holmes pushed it open from inside, hoping to pull the stretcher out. Flames licking the sliding door forced them to take another course of action. Ignoring their personal safety, Mr. Holmes seized the elderly woman in his arms - the stretcher was on fire - and carried her to the front of the ambulance while Mr. Densmore returned to the driver's side and took her out through the door moments before the interior was totally engulfed.