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Mr. James Austin Bates

Bateston, Nova Scotia

Decorations for Bravery

  • Medal of Bravery

    Awarded on: 2004-02-19
    Invested on: 2004-06-25
    James Austin Bates, M.B. Daniel Archibald MacInnis, M.B. Medal of Bravery On August 7, 2002, James Bates and Daniel MacInnis rescued a man and his four-year-old son from drowning at Catalone Gut Beach, Nova Scotia. Father and son were sitting on a rubber float when a gust of wind carried them farther out and threw them into the choppy water. Alerted to the situation from the beach, Mr. Bates and Mr. MacInnis, both non-swimmers, grabbed an old wooden boat and paddled through the crashing waves toward the pair, more than a kilometre away. Reaching their side, they pulled the young victim from his father's grasp and brought him aboard, before hauling the semi-conscious man over the stern of the unstable craft. Trying desperately to row back against the forceful winds, they drifted precariously for some 30 minutes before a rescue boat arrived and towed them back to shore.