Mr. Speaker, the Canadian military performed a miraculous rescue at sea recently when five air crew aboard an aging Sea King helicopter rescued 30 people from a sinking cargo vessel during a raging mid-Atlantic storm.
Thirty times during that terrible storm, Master Corporal Rob Fisher was lowered on to the heaving deck of the bulk carrier Mount Olympus , epitomizing the best traditions of brave men in fearful conditions.
Piloting that chopper was Captain Dan Burden, a 36-year old naval officer from Salmon Arm in my riding of Okanagan-Shuswap, where he attended elementary and high schools and where his proud parents, James and Norene Burden, still make their home.
Captain Burden recently spent six months in the Persian Gulf. Over Christmas he plans some r and r with his wife Catherine, four-year old son Alexander and infant daughter Elizabeth.
I ask the House to join me in congratulating the Canadian Navy and especially the officers and crew of HMCS Calgary for their heroic efforts.