Medal of Bravery
Awarded on: 2005-03-01
Invested on: 2005-06-24
On May 29, 2004, Élie Gilbert saved a man from a fiery death, following an accident on Highway 117, in La Vérendrye Park, Quebec. Seconds after a semi-trailer collided head-on with a pickup truck and erupted into a fireball, Mr. Gilbert raced to the scene through a wall of thick smoke and toxic fumes. Jumping over the massive torn-out engine of the transport truck in the ditch, he made his way to the injured driver who had collapsed after getting out of the burning cabin of his vehicle. Mr. Gilbert then carried the heavy victim on his shoulder up the embankment, a safe distance away from the blaze. Tragically, the three occupants of the other vehicle perished in the accident.