Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: March 25, 1985
• Invested on: September 27, 1985

Stanley Richard Hotley, M.B.
John David Wafler, M.B.
Medal of Bravery

Late on the afternoon of 6 September 1983, Stanley Hotley and John Wafler rescued three men from certain drowning. Messrs. Hotley and Wafler saw a speedboat burning on Okanagan Lake, approximately two kilometres from shore. Ignoring the full-blown storm, they launched a small motor boat. On approaching the scene they found one man treading water, his head barely above the surface, and pulled him aboard. A second, a non-swimmer, was seen clinging to the stern of the blazing wreck. Two-metre waves, 75-km/hour shifting winds and billowing smoke combined to make their task very dangerous, but Messrs. Hotley and Wafler closed in, rescuing him with a rope. They then proceeded to search toward shore, finding another man exhausted and floundering. With the third on board, in spite of the turbulent conditions, they steered the crowded boat to safety.