Reg Crawford stares out the windows of the Pine Valley Lodge in Hinton. He has a kind face, and even though he sits alone, it almost feels like a shame to interrupt his thoughts. He’s handed a piece of paper with an introduction scribbled onto it. Immediately and happily, he launches into a story that takes him back through 60 years of memories. 

Crawford travelled all over Canada beginning at the age of 22, with the Canadian Air Force and Search and Rescue. While he never saw action overseas, Crawford’s bravery saved many lives at home and all over the country. He participated in operational jumps in B.C., Yukon, Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. 

Crawford did SAR jumps for 23 years, eventually becoming a teacher at the now-closed Hinton Survival School. He spent time training in and around Jasper and Hinton as well.

Crawford said the job was tough, but the rewards were extraordinary. 

“There’s no satisfaction like saving a person’s life,” Crawford said. “You probably feel even better than the guy you saved.”

Crawford did jumps with all types of people. He taught Canadian, American and British service men. He also did jumps with nurses. He was lucky to never have an injury while doing operational jumps, but some of his fellow jumpers weren’t so lucky.

“If you can walk away from it, it was a good one,” Crawford said. 

There were many dangers involved with jumping out of massive Hercules planes, but Crawford looked at it with a sense of humour. 

“Of course the ground coming up too fast (is a risk),” he said. 

Since the jumps were done in a variety of locations, the terrain was always different. Crawford remembers doing jumps into mountainous areas. This meant an incredible amount of skill was required to land in the right position. 

“Some of them were very close. You had to get right where you want to go,” he said.

Crawford recalls one jump where he arrived with a partner to rescue a stranded American in the Yukon. The man told them he had been contemplating taking his own life if he had had to spend another night out in the wilderness.

After one particularly heroic jump, Crawford was offered a medal, but his partner was not. In those days, the senior member of the team got the award and the junior member didn’t. Crawford felt his partner deserved the award as much as he did, so he protested.

“I told him if he didn’t get it, I wouldn’t accept it,” he said. The medal was promptly withdrawn from both, and they went without. 

Jumps went on year round, and Crawford said the equipment used today for the same job is far more advanced. Often they were using equipment that was second hand.

“They have much better equipment, much better suits than we had,” he said. “But we got by.”

Crawford is modest when he talks about the job he did.

“I’m sure the guys today are doing a lot better job,” he said. 

One of the tough parts of the job was arriving on the scene of gruesome accidents fearing the worst. He remembers one plane crash in Quebec where the fuselage of a plane was fully intact.

“It looked like it was in good condition,” Crawford said.

Once he and his team peered inside, however, they found three people dead. Other times a crash site would look as if no one could have survived, and they would pull multiple victims to safety. 

Despite some rescue operations with sad endings, Crawford said it was all worthwhile.

“If I was 60 years younger, I’d do it again,” he said. 

Eventually, Crawford began teaching at the survival school where he educated students on Arctic Survival, which included teaching people how to build an igloo and survive in some of the world’s harshest climates. He spent 14 years at the school until he lost his hearing and retired. He has been in Hinton now for 42 years. 

Crawford insists things have changed in the world of search and rescue operational jumps, but he is still looked at as a resource for present-day jumpers. 

“I can tell them what we did,” he said. 

With such a potentially dangerous job, Crawford said it is important to be committed and have a bit of a dare-devil attitude. 

“The first thing you’ve got to have is determination. Never say quit,” he said. 

Crawford fondly recalls a rescue in the past decade, where two SAR men jumped into the frozen Arctic Ocean between Greenland and Baffin Island to save a life. The men leapt from a Hercules aircraft in the middle of winter, into the frigid waters and stabilized a victim. Both were decorated for the extraordinary rescue. 

Crawford said he hasn’t lost the urge to be one of those men.

“I would have done it too.”

With Remembrance Day coming up, Crawford’s says it is important to remind young people what war really means. 

“It’s most important for the veterans, and for teaching the young people: don’t do it again.”