Meritorious Service Cross

• Awarded on: March 3, 1994
• Invested on: September 30, 1994

David Kootook, M.S.C., Spence Bay, N.W.T. (Posthumous)
Meritorious Service Cross (civil division)

Fourteen-year-old David Kootook survived for twenty-three days after a plane crashed 415 kilometres north-east of Yellowknife. Suffering from appendicitis, he was being flown to hospital accompanied by his pregnant aunt and a nurse. He gave comfort to his aunt, who died shortly after impact, and cared for the injured pilot, the remaining and sole survivor. Although unaccustomed to the deep snow and conditions below the treeline, David built a temporary shelter, chopped wood for the fire and, when there were no more emergency rations, collected caribou moss and set snares. He tried to reach a lake to catch fish and, on another occasion, tried to walk to Yellowknife. At one point, he was away from the crash site for fifty-one hours. David Kootook died from hunger and exhaustion on December 1, 1972.