Star of Courage
Awarded on: 1983-04-25
Invested on: 1983-06-24
In the early hours of August 9th 1981, Cst. Robert Goupil of the Rouyn Municipal Police Department, in Quebec, entered a burning house in a determined and selfless effort to save a six-year-old girl. While on patrol duty, Cst. Goupil saw smoke billowing from the roof of a two-storey house. On arrival he learned that the child was in an upstairs room located just across from the master bedroom where the flames had originated. Due to thick smoke the grandparents had been unable to reach the child. Nevertheless, once they had described the layout of the upper floor, though the fire was raging out of control, Cst. Goupil ran up the stairs. Suffocating smoke forced him to retreat but, covering his face with a wet towel, he climbed the staircase a second time, crawled on his hands and knees toward the room which he had been told belonged to the young girl and found her lying on the bed. He carried the unconscious child outside and applied artificial respiration, but to no avail.