Star of Courage

• Awarded on: January 23, 1984
• Invested on: June 22, 1984

Sixteen-year-old, high school student Victor Deline, through exemplary courage, rescued three adults from certain drowning in Fairbanks Lake near the town of Walden. Shortly before midnight on 31 December 1982, seven motorized snow vehicles, carrying thirteen people, plunged into open water within a short distance of one another. Victor, driver of one of the vehicles, climbed onto the ice and reached shore but, on hearing cries for help, returned to the ice. Knowing that the surface was treacherous, he stretched over the thin ice near the edge of the hole and lifted a much heavier man to stronger ice, then another. One woman passenger was seen floundering some distance away, fighting against the pull of her heavy clothing. By this time numb with cold and very tired, Victor nevertheless swam out to the woman. Struggling to hold her above water, he repeatedly sank under the weight. Finally, after much effort, he reached solid ice and took her to shore.