Corporal Craig Douglas Seager

  • Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador

Decorations for Bravery

  • Medal of Bravery

    • Awarded on: July 16, 1984
    • Invested on: November 09, 1984

    Master Corporal Joseph Arnold MacAuley, M.B., C.D.
    Corporal George Edward Makowski, M.B.
    Corporal Craig Douglas Seager, S.C., M.B., C.D.*
    Medal of Bravery

    On 2 April 1983, MCpl. Joseph MacAuley, Cpl. George Makowski and Cpl. Craig Seager, members of 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron from Canadian Forces Base Comox, through their efforts rescued two women and a man from certain death following a plane crash 75 km north-east of Vancouver. The three survivors were stranded on a precarious, avalanche-prone cliff-face and had spent the night in a makeshift shelter, battling sub-zero temperatures and heavy snowfall. With the help of a civilian helicopter pilot, Mr. T. A. Dixon, the team determined to reach the survivors as quickly as possible because the already bad weather conditions were forecast to deteriorate and delaying the rescue attempt another day would likely result in the death of the survivors. The team leader, MCpl. MacAuley, decided upon an untested rescue procedure and Cpls. Makowski and Seager were transported to the scene in a jury-rigged net slung beneath the helicopter. Once they had reached the survivors, Cpl. Seager stayed at the crash site with the injured man while Cpl. Makowski climbed back into the net while they rode to safety. MCpl. MacAuley remained in the cockpit throughout, giving direction to the pilot and continuously advising him of the clearance from the cliff-face, the movement of the rescue apparatus and the extraction of the survivors.

    * This is the second award for bravery to Cpl Seager.

  • Star of Courage

    • Awarded on: July 26, 1982
    • Invested on: October 06, 1982

    Captain Keith Trevor Gathercole, O.M.M., S.C., C.D.
    Master Corporal Donald Stephen Gledhill, S.C., C.D.
    Corporal Craig Douglas Seager, S.C.
    Star of Courage

    In the early hours of 27 December 1980 Capt. Keith Gathercole, Aircraft Commander of Helicopter 304, 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron from Canadian Forces Base Comox, braved foul weather in answer to a call to proceed to Squamish, British Columbia. Poor night visibility and gushing winds made his sortie extremely difficult, but he arrived on the scene and directed his crew in the perilous rescue of six people trapped in the flooding Cheakamus River. MCpl. Steve Gledhill and Cpl. Craig Seager repeatedly lowered through high trees and dropped chest-deep into the swift-flowing waters to wade towards the survivors. Throughout the manoeuvre the two men were in grave danger of the hoist cable tangling or breaking, and were well aware that an upstream road embankment holding back a fifteen-metre wall of water would soon collapse. The helicopter hovered in these hazardous circumstances at least eight times during the ninety-minute successful mission.