Star of Courage

• Awarded on: September 11, 1978
• Invested on: March 09, 1979

Michel Laplante, aged seventeen, was drowned while attempting to save the life of a friend at Sainte- Prudentienne, Quebec, on 8 October 1977. On an excursion with the man and the latter's brother, the brother took a canoe in order to retrieve a drifting decoy. The canoe capsized and he was thrown into the icy water, some two hundred feet from shore. Michel Laplante at once shed his clothes and swam to his companion's aid. Together they tried to right the canoe but were soon overcome by the freezing water. The other man then tried to swim out but was forced by the cold to turn back. Moments later Michel Laplante and his companion sank below the surface and were drowned.