Carnegie Medals Awarded To 19 For Acts Of Extraordinary Civilian Heroism

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 22, 2014 /CNW/ -- In its fourth and final award announcement of 2014, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission today named 19 individuals as recipients of the Carnegie Medal. The medal is given throughout the United States and Canada to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.

Two of the rescues took place on Christmas Day, 2013: Richard L. Blessen, 45, a college administrator, saved two boys who had fallen through thin ice on a pond in Duncan, Neb., and Donald E. Thompson, 54, an off-duty police officer, pulled a man from the fiery wreckage of his car after a freeway accident in Los Angeles.

The heroes announced today bring to 84 the number of awards made in 2014 and to 9,737 the total number of awards made since the Pittsburgh-based Fund's inception in 1904. Commission Chair Mark Laskow stated that each of the awardees or their survivors will also receive a financial grant.  Throughout the 110 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, $36.7 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance. The awardees are:

Frederick J. Levesque, Jr.	Stafford Springs, Conn.
Brent Allen Thoele	Shorewood, Ill.
Pawel L. Kruszewski	Auburn, Maine
Donald Schaus, Sr.	Katonah, N.Y.
Bernard Kozen	Tobyhanna, Pa.
Richard L. Blessen	Crete, Neb.
Gregory D. Plancich	Vashon, Wash.
Daniel C. Hardwick	Vashon, Wash.
Jim O. Fultz	Siletz, Ore.
Wayne Kitt	Loon Lake, Wash.
Samuel Irick, deceased	Houston, Texas
Clifford Faraci	Desert Hills, Ariz.
Donald E. Thompson	West Hills, Calif.
Paul W. Mongiello	Overland Park, Kan.
Jonathan A. Barthel	Lake Norden, S.D.
James M. Kocker	Poulsbo, Wash.
Ronnie Lee Moore, Jr.	Hortense, Ga.
John Shannon Gibson	Woodbine, Ga.
Jeffrey A. Johnson	North Freedom, Wis.

    

Resumes of the acts can be found at http://carnegiehero.org/awardees. Fuller information on the Carnegie Medal and the history of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission can be found at www.carnegiehero.org.

Contact: Douglas R. Chambers
Toll free: 1-800-447-8900

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carnegie-medals-awarded-to-19-for-acts-of-extraordinary-civilian-heroism-300012403.html

SOURCE Carnegie Hero Fund Commission