Star of Courage

• Awarded on: May 17, 1976
• Invested on: June 28, 1976

Gordon Sherman Gillespie, S.C.
Star of Courage
Donald Terry Gillespie, M.B.
Constable Harry William Leonard Urwin, M.B.
Medal of Bravery

At considerable risk to their own lives Gordon Gillespie, his son Terry and Police Cst. Harry Urwin braved intense heat and smoke to remove an eight-year-old girl, and attempt to remove her sister from a car which had burst into flames following a motor accident in Toronto, on 8 February 1975. Stopping at the scene, Mr. Gillespie and his son found other motorists vainly attempting to pry open one of the rear doors. Gordon crawled into the front section of the smoke-filled wreckage and took hold of the eight-year-old girl who was in the rear seat. Terry smashed a side window and together the men lifted the unconscious girl through the opening. Persisting in the blistering heat, Gordon then reached for the other victim but was forced to open the rear door with a crowbar and twice attempted to reach inside, to the point of suffering injuries himself, but the heat was too great and the child could not be saved.