Star of Courage

• Awarded on: February 11, 1998
• Invested on: September 18, 1998

On November 21, 1996, seventeen-year-old Paul McComb Benner lost his life while preventing his friend from being struck by a commuter train in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. Mr. McComb Benner and his friend had missed their late afternoon bus and, because of the cold weather, decided to take a shortcut home by walking along the train tracks. They had thought they would hear a train coming but when they heard the whistle blow it was too late to escape the braking locomotive that was bearing down on them. The friend froze in shock. Without hesitation or regard for his own personal safety, Paul McComb Benner lunged towards her and pushed her out of the way. Because of his prompt and courageous action the woman escaped certain death, but Mr. McComb Benner was unable to clear the tracks in time and he sustained fatal injuries.