Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: June 15, 1987
• Invested on: June 10, 1988

Petty Officer Mark Dutour, M.B.
Seaman Michael Kendall, M.B.
Seaman Apprentice John Marshall Powers, M.B.
Medal of Bravery

On the night of February 16, 1986, having received a Canadian call for assistance, PO. Mark Dutour, Seaman Michael Kendall and Seaman Apprentice John Powers of the United States Coast Guard Belle Isle Search & Rescue Station made two separate rescues of men stranded on the thin ice of Lake St. Clair near Pike Creek, Ontario. Another rescue party had informed the Coast Guard that they had been forced to leave a man out on the lake, but head marked his position with a flare and a flare line. The Coast Guard crewmen, wearing wet suits, were well-equipped but were hampered by the weight of the aluminium boat to which they had attached themselves. They were assisted by some civilians in the first rescue. Through blowing snow and blistering winds, the men made their way out on the patchy ice to the victim, a member of a fishing party. Several times they broke through the ice into the water. PO. Dutour, making use of a swim harness, a pike pole and a rope, pulled the man some 15 m. to the boat through broken ice and open water. During this operation, the rescuers heard yells for help but were unable to determine from which direction they were coming. They made their way back to shore exhausted by the extra weight of the victim in the boat and the ice which had formed on its hull. They then set out to search for the remaining member of the fishing party whose yells they had heard. After 2 hours, they returned to shore and began packing up their gear, having concluded that further searches would be futile. Some time later, seeing a burning light in the distance and learning that two girls had heard yells for help, the exhausted Coast Guard crew-members made one more rescue attempt, this time using a lighter rubber raft. The weather had improved by this time and visibility had increased, which aided them in locating the remaining victim although the ice remained hazardous. On reaching the cold and wet man, they stripped off his frozen clothes, placed him in a thermal recovery capsule and, the added weight of the victim slowing their progress, reached the shore at sunrise.