Donald Calvin Duplisea was born in St. Stephen NB. He joined the Royal Canadian Engineers in 1964 in the 13th Intake of the Sapper Apprentice Training Program. After two years of Sapper Apprentice training at the Royal Canadian School of Military Engineering in Chilliwack BC, Don was posted to 2 Field Squadron in Camp Gagetown, NB. He was subsequently posted to 5eme Escadron de Genie du Canada in Valcartier, QC where he worked as a field section member and later as a heavy equipment operator. He was then posted to 4 Field Squadron in Lahr Germany as a Master Corporal where he was in charge of the Heavy Equipment Section, Field Section Commander, Brigade Training Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) and, finally, as a Reconnaissance Sergeant in 4 Combat Engineer Regiment.
Don served a full 44-year and retired at the rank of major.
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Sgt. Donald Duplisea (then MCpl.), imperilled his own life to rescue a colleague from inside an armoured personnel carrier which sank with two persons aboard during training exercises at a lake in Lahr, Germany, on 26 March 1975. Divers on the site succeeded in rescuing the crew commander, but one man was trapped in an inaccessible section of the vehicle. When attempts to haul the carrier from the water also failed, MCpl. Duplisea dived into the freezing water and in almost total darkness proceeded head first through a hatch, pulling his air tanks behind him. The tiny interior of the vehicle was congested with equipment, but the rescuer managed nonetheless to manoeuvre through the compartments and open a larger cargo door. MCpl. Duplisea then resurfaced with the man and applied artificial respiration; but the victim unfortunately could not be revived.
