Orders, Decorations and Medals

Royal Canadian Humane Association, bronze medal (John Attew, Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, March 30. 1973) with top suspension inscribed ‘Bravery’, extremely fine £80-120

The following details were reported by Staff Sergeant K. C. Helander, in charge of the Fort Saskatchewan Detachment R.C.M.P.:

‘I wish to bring to your attention an incident that occurred at about 4.30 p.m. on the 30th March, 1973, at Fort Saskatchewan. Two young children, namely Kevin Daryl Cook (born 3-Jul-65) and John Attew (born 24-Jan-66), were playing together in an unfinished basement in the Pineview area of Fort Saskatchewan. The basement was being prepared for finishing of the walls, but to this point, only had the cement footings. The two children started digging a hole into the dirt when approximately two or three yards of sand and frozen dirt caved in on them. Both boys were completely buried. John Attew was the first child to dig himself out, and on doing so, he could not find his playmate. The Attew boy then dug dirt away until Kevin’s head and shoulders were exposed. John Attew, before leaving for help, made sure that Kevin was breathing normally, and, in fact, cleaned some sand from Kevin’s mouth. The Attew boy then left and went home to tell his parents about the incident, and the fact that Kevin was still partially buried in the sand. On receipt of this information, John’s parents went to the basement and released the Cook boy from the sand. The interesting part is that John Attew suffered a broken leg when the sand and dirt fell in on him. I have since learned that in order for the Attew boy to get help, Kevin had to assist in removing frozen chunks of earth from the leg of John Attew.’