Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: February 19, 2004
• Invested on: June 25, 2004

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.