Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: December 5, 1983
• Invested on: June 22, 1984

Earl Donald Herrington, M.B.
Morley Evertt Kocken, M.B.
William James Leach, M.B.
Medal of Bravery

While employed in Stewart, British Columbia, Earl Herrington, a resident of the area, Morley Evertt Kocken of Campbell River (B.C.), and William James Leach, now a resident of Edmonton, Alberta, joined efforts to rescue the victims of a propane gas explosion which destroyed their home. In the small hours of the morning of 16 August 1981, two young sisters were sleeping in the front bedroom of a second-story apartment when the explosion blew out the walls. On hearing the blast, Messrs. Herrington and Leach rushed to the scene, joined shortly afterwards by Mr. Kocken. They found one of the little girls almost buried under the debris while the other sat crying in her bed on the dangling floor. Surrounded by flames and rapidly thickening smoke, Mr. Herrington extricated the first girl from the debris and with outstretched hands seized the other one. He handed her to Mr. Leach who then carried both girls across the street. At that point, Messrs. Herrington and Kocken, despite the obvious danger, went in the burning building and found an elderly man in a daze. They brought him outside shortly before a second explosion occurred.