Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: February 20, 1984
• Invested on: July 09, 1984

R.C.M.P. Constable Robert Peter Dunlap, M.B.
R.C.M.P. Staff Sergeant John William Pringle, M.B.
R.C.M.P. Corporal Robert Alexander Wheadon, M.B.
Medal of Bravery

Early in the afternoon of 28 March 1983, Cst. Robert Peter Dunlap, S./Sgt. John William Pringle and Cpl. Robert Alexander Wheadon, all of the R.C.M.P. Whitehorse Detachment, combined efforts to save a woman from certain death. In response to an emergency call the three police officers rushed to the embankment of the Yukon River where they saw a woman floating near the ice edge. They immediately jumped onto an ice floe to attempt the rescue. Cst. Dunlap tried to pull her out of the water with a long pole, but the woman was unable to hold on because of her weakened condition and the force of the current. She quickly disappeared under the ice. At great risk to their own safety the three men spent considerable time on the soft ice probing and searching for the woman. Finally, her blue jacket was seen through the thinner ice; S./Sgt. Pringle smashed the ice, caught hold of her and with the help of Cpl. Wheadon and Cst. Dunlap lifted the unconscious woman onto the ice. Because they knew that every second mattered, they immediately applied cardiopulmonary resuscitation, continuing the procedure until she regained consciousness.