- Bryan Keith Pierce
Master Corporal Bryan Keith Pierce, CV, CD, a technician of the Canadian Forces search-and-rescue, received the Cross of Valour, the highest Canadian award for acts of
courage in circumstances of extreme peril, onSeptember 18 ,1998 , along with SergeantKeith Paul Mitchell .On
November 12 ,1996 , Sergeant Mitchell and Master Corporal Pierce carried out an unprecedented parachute jump at night from a Hercules aircraft into freezingArctic waters to provide medical aid to a critically ill fisherman onboard a Danishfishing trawler located near Resolution Island,Northwest Territories .With inadequate flare illumination, Sergeant Mitchell and Master Corporal Pierce
parachute d towards where a Zodiac boat was supposed to have been launched to pull them from the sea. Extremely strong winds carried the two men away from the vessel and landed them in freezing three-metre waves. Because of the heavy seas and severe icing conditions, they were unable to swim to the trawler. About 15 minutes later, with the men close tohypothermia , the ice-encrusted Zodiac finally reached them. They made it to the trawler, where they immediately treated the ill sailor and saved his life.
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