RCMP Corporal Curtis Wilfred Ashford, M.B.
Medal of Bravery
On April 14, 2005, Corporal Curtis Ashford rescued a suicidal woman from drowning at Bonavista Harbour, Newfoundland and Labrador. Informed that the distressed woman had been located at the shoreline, Corporal Ashford immediately attended the scene and attempted to persuade the woman to abandon her precarious position on the edge of an ice-covered cliff. When he approached her, she leaped into the ocean, three metres below. Corporal Ashford immediately jumped into the freezing waters to rescue her. He swam out to the woman, who was floating face down, some five metres from shore. Although hindered in his efforts by the strength of the current drawing them farther out to sea, he managed to hold onto her and make his way back through the crashing waves until they safely reached the shore.