Skydiver Who Sacrificed Life Awarded Posthumous Medal

Skydiving instructor Robert Cook has just been awarded an Australian Bravery Award, one of Australia's most prestigious honors. But the recognition is bittersweet for Cook's family: Robert himself is not alive to receive it.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on March 17 2008

Skydiving instructor Robert Cook has just been awarded an Australian Bravery Award, one of Australia’s most prestigious honors. But the recognition is bittersweet for Cook’s family: Robert himself is not alive to receive it.

The 22-year-old man was given the posthumous award for a remarkable act of selflessness: In August of 2006, he was giving a skydiving lesson to a young woman in Missouri when the plane they were flying on began to have engine trouble. Robert knew the plane was going to crash – but he believed it was his duty to save the life of Kimberly Dear, the 21-year-old Australian woman he’d taken on board for a skydiving lesson.

“What [Robert] did was slip her into his lap and hooked up her harness and then told her that on the impact that he would take most of the impact,” Robert’s father, Mark Cook, told The Sydney Morning Herald.

When the small plane crashed into a tree, Robert and six other passengers were killed – but thanks to his noble sacrifice, Kimberley Dear survived the accident.

Though she suffered spinal injuries and a broken pelvis, the young survivor was on her feet again within months of the accident, after a grueling rehabilitation process. “There were so many fractures, and spinal fractures, but there was no spinal cord injury,” her hospital case worker, Susan Aubuchon, told The Age. “It’s been said many times here that it’s amazing that Kimberley walked again after this plane crash.”

Five days after the accident, Kimberley’s father, Bill Dear, attended the funeral for the young man who had given his life to save his daughter. “I will think of him like a son,” he told the crowd.

Though Robert’s death was a tragic loss to his own family, Robert’s father believes that his son’s tragic death serves as an example of his heroic character. “When everyone else panicked, Robert was calm,” he told The Age. “He was able to help alleviate her fears. That is Robert to a tee. He cared about other people and, for sure, he gave his life to save someone else’s.”

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