WATCH: A Ladysmith Search and Rescue volunteer is taking giving back to new heights. For more than three decades, John Lamb has been climbing into his plane to help search efforts from above and our Skye Ryan climbed aboard to find out why.
John Lamb still gets excited climbing behind the wheel of his plane to take to the skies of Vancouver Island.
“You know being up there and flying among the clouds, it’s tremendous,” said John Lamb.
So combining his passion for flying, with his desire to give back, has taken the retired Ladysmith man’s volunteering to new heights.
“The idea that we’re helping people is the paramount feeling when we all go out for a search,” said Lamb.
For an amazing 33 years, he has been a volunteer pilot for Civil Air Search and Rescue. He takes searchers up and above to look down on large tracts of Vancouver Island where people have gone missing. From there they can rule out areas where ground crews don’t need to cover or remarkably even spot missing people.
“The idea that we’re helping people is the paramount feeling when we all go out for a search,” said Lamb.
“We’ve had a few successful searches where we’ve actually found the subject of the search. That’s happened for us once or twice. It certainly feels good that you’ve helped somebody.”
At 71-years old now, he’s been part of some 150 active searches. Helping bring people home or closure to missing people’s families.
This week Lamb was honoured at the BC Legislature for his extraordinary commitment to being a public safety volunteer. Though he says his patient wife Lillian who has seen him rush off for countless searches over the years and other volunteers are just as deserving.
“I feel like there’s lots of other people here who I wish I could line them up and pat them on the back because they’ve done an excellent job as well,” said Lamb.
Skye Ryan
