Star of Courage

• Awarded on: May 17, 1976
• Invested on: June 28, 1976

Louise Poulin, S.C., (Posthumous)
Star of Courage

Fifteen-year-old Louise Poulin was drowned while swimming to the aid of members of her family at Saint-Benoît-Labre, Quebec, on 29 July 1975. Louise's sister, aged four, and her younger twin brothers were seated in the family car when one of them released the brakes and caused the vehicle to roll downhill into the lake. On noticing the car moving, the children's mother raced to it and managed to open one of the doors, as it drifted offshore. Hearing cries for help, Louise rushed at once into the lake and swam to the panic-stricken victims. Louise and her mother removed the children from the car and Louise then promptly towed one child ashore before returning for the others. In the excitement, however, Louise became exhausted, and though she fought valiantly to keep one of her siblings afloat, both disappeared below the surface and were drowned. The four- year-old girl and her mother were brought ashore by another daughter who went to their rescue in a rubber raft.