Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: December 13, 2001
• Invested on: June 28, 2002

While vacationing in Cuba on January 24, 2001, Tarmo Hämäläinen rescued his wife from a shark attack. The couple had gone for a late afternoon swim when the two-metre shark attacked the woman in chest-deep water, some 15 metres from the beach. Mr. Hämäläinen quickly grabbed hold of the dorsal fin with both hands and tried to shake the shark off but the predator maintained its grip on his wife's arm and lunged downwards, pulling her underneath the surface. With the skin on his hands, arms and legs rubbed raw from punching and kicking the shark's scaly body, Mr. Hämäläinen reached for the attacker once again and pummelled it into releasing its hold, only to see it return and clasp its teeth into the woman's back. Although exhausted from the trauma, Mr. Hämäläinen finally succeeded in driving the shark away and pulled his now unconscious wife through the blood-filled waters toward shore until others arrived to assist. She was later flown back to Canada for major surgery.