A Navy diver from Hawke's Bay who rescued a drowning colleague was yesterday awarded the Defence Meritorious Service Medal for outstanding conduct.
Trevor Strickland, who received his medal in a ceremony at Freyberg House, grew up in Flaxmere, Hastings, attending Flaxmere Primary School and St John's College. His grandfather, Trevor Whatuira, says as a young boy Mr Strickland was his "crewman" when the pair went fishing and it was hard to keep him in the boat.
"He always wanted to be in the sea. I had to keep telling him to stay in the boat", Mr Whatuira said.
Throughout his school days Mr Strickland played a lot of rugby, representing Hawke's Bay at Ross Shield level and going on to captain the Navy rugby team and the NZ Defence Force team.
But on September 15, 2015, he was a student on the Petty Office Diver Course when he was asked to play the role of an unconscious diver at depth in an exercise to test a student rescue diver.