Star of Courage

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

Sixteen-year-old Gerald Doherty rescued a five-year-old girl and her two younger brothers who were trapped in the basement of their home where fire broke out on the night of December 7, 1974. The children had been in the care of three teenaged girls who fled from the building to summon help, upon discovering the flames. When Gerald Doherty and other neighbours investigated, they found two of the youngsters standing by the basement window, a few yards away from the fire which was blocking access from the ground floor. A protective grating was removed and the glass of the tiny window smashed to allow entrance into the smoke-filled room. Mr. Doherty volunteered to slip through the opening and lifted the two victims to safety. Inching his way through the smoke and obscurity, he then searched the other rooms and found the third child lying in a crib. With the baby shielded in his arms, the rescuer retraced his footsteps and crawled back through the narrow exit as the heat and smoke were becoming increasingly unbearable.