Mr Gamble, of Springdale Heights, was at the St Ives pub on the Lincoln Causeway in Wodonga on Saturday night when he almost choked to death.

Mr Cochrane, a maintenance fitter at Mars, saw Mr Gamble was in trouble and jumped up.

“I don’t know if people are afraid to get involved these days but it seemed like forever and no one was moving,” Mr Cochrane said.

“So I hopped up and tried to clear his airway the way they teach you now, which is a firm hit between the shoulder blades, but that wasn’t working.

“I’ve been a first-aider for about 12 years and early in my training they taught the Heimlich manoeuvre so that’s what I did.”

The piece of beef Mr Gamble was choking on was dislodged and the pub crowd erupted in applause.

“All I can say is thanks mate, I owe you one,” Mr Gamble said.

The pair was reunited after Mr Gamble and his partner Karla Williams made an appeal to find the man who saved Mr Gamble’s life in yesterday’s The Border Mail.

“It’s why you’re taught first aid in the first place so I’m glad I could help,” Mr Cochrane said.

Mr Gamble’s step-daughter Lauren, 14, presented Mr Cochrane with a handmade card.

“I just wanted to tell him how grateful we are that he was there that night, I don’t know what we’d do if he wasn’t,” she said.