Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: April 25, 1983
• Invested on: June 24, 1983

On 26 September 1981 Cpl. Tim Kain, Division Dive Supervisor of the Vancouver Detachment of the R.C.M.P., participated in the rescue of two fishermen facing almost certain death. In the early hours of the morning the troller Respond had collided with a freighter near the mouth of the Fraser River and capsized. Two crewmen on board were trapped in an air pocket saturated with oil and diesel fumes. In response to an urgent call, Cpl. Kain took the decision that a dive team of two could attempt the rescue and arrived on the scene by hovercraft. The wind had continued to increase and the wreck, rolling in the mounting waves, was losing buoyancy, making an exploratory dive extremely dangerous. Darkness and floating debris created additional hazards, but Cpl. Kain and his companion went underneath the boat. This reconnaissance showed that only one rescuer could enter the hull at a time; he ten cannibalized his own equipment so that two people could breathe with the other diver's apparatus. When the diver surfaced, struggling with one of the men, Cpl. Kain wrestled the panic-stricken victim from his colleague and swam with him to the hovercraft. He returned to the capsized boat and assisted in the recovery of the second survivor.