DECORATION FOR BRAVERY

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24960, 22 August 1946, Page 4

DECORATION FOR BRAVERY

HUMANE SOCIETY’S BRONZE MEDAL PRESENTATION TO BE MADE TO-DAY “Awarded to Barry Keith Gregory for an act of bravery. May 27, 1946,” is the inscription on a bronze medal of the Royal Humane Society of New Zealand which will be presented by the Mayor (Mr E. H. Andrews) to the five-and-a-half-years-old son of Mr and Mrs R. J. E. Gregory, of 349 St. Asaph street, at the Phillipstown School at 11.30 this morning. The award commemorates the act of Barry Gregory in rescuing his 18-months-old brother, David John Gregory, from his cot when his home was on fire on May 27. The story of the rescue has been told by Mrs J. Entwistle, a neighbour, at 324 Tuam street. About 10.15 a.m., she said, she was attracted by the sound of a baby crying. She discovered the five-year-old boy dragging his baby brother through a hole in the fence between their properties. The front of Gregory’s home was in Harries. “Our house is on fire. Could David and I come in out of the rain until mummy comes back from the shop?” Barry asked. He told Mrs Entwistle that he had gone to a front room to get a book and found the front of the house on fire. The adjoining room, where the baby had been sleeping, was filled with smoke. He could not see, but knew where the cot was, and carried his baby brother out of the house. “He was very worried about his kitten and begged me to let him, go back and get it from the kitchen couch before the fire reached it,” said Mrs Entwistle.

The children’s mother had gone to a shop nearby, and was away such a short time that she could not believe the children would have had time to escape, Mrs Entwistle added. The front of the house was completely gutted. Barry Gregory is in Primer I at the Phillipstown School. The medal, hung from its clasp on a broad blue ribbon, will be presented in front of his fellowpupils. ■