“This guy went off the bridge at Corowa years ago and I dived in upstream from where he went in and everyone said I was mad for going in there,” Mr Boyd said.

“I was feeling around and I felt what I thought was a big tree.

“I put my hand down and I thought, this is a funny place for grass to be growing, and it was his hair.

“That’s stuck in my mind and every time I cross that bridge I think of that.”

The biker had drowned after crashing off the bridge as a large piece of farm machinery came in the opposite direction.

But Mr Boyd’s time in the squad has also involved some happy outcomes and one that comes to mind is a skydiver stuck at Brocklesby.

“He was hooked up in a tree and we had to climb the tree and he had fractured his thigh and he wasn’t too happy and we had to give him an ultimatum to come down,” Mr Boyd said.

“It was a standing joke that he never put his feet on the ground for the next six weeks, because he went straight to hospital.”

For all his work with the squad Mr Boyd has been awarded the Emergency Services Medal with an official citation recognising his distinguished service.

The retired electrician, who lives in Wodonga, joined the squad in 1964 at the urging of foundation member Jack Bowdren, who was a workmate.

“He screwed my bloody ear off and I joined it and I’ve been in it ever since, I’ve never regretted it,” Mr Boyd said.

“Going to rescue stuff was like a holiday to me, it was totally different to work.”

Mr Boyd, 74, was captain for 15 years and is still the regional co-ordinator for the Murray region of the NSW Volunteer Rescue Association.

“I like helping people and the camaraderie of the squad and the people, they’re just a special breed of people,” he said.