Pittsburgh, Pa., September 19, 2017— A 10-year-old boy who died while attempting to save his 2-year-old cousin from a house fire is one of 18 people recently awarded the Carnegie Medal for outstanding civilian heroism.
Kevin D. Little, Jr., of Milwaukee, was the youngest of the Carnegie Heroes announced today in the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission’s third announcement of 2017.
Three others also died in the performance of their acts: a 39-year-old custodian from Ottawa helped to save a 12-year-old boy from drowning; a 34-year-old truck driver from Wood Lake, Minn., attempted to save a man from suffocation; and a 36-year-old metal worker from Onalaska, Texas, helped to rescue a 7-year-old girl from drowning.
The Carnegie 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.
The heroes announced today bring to 57 the number of awards made to date in 2017 and to 9,971 the total number since the Pittsburgh-based Fund’s inception in 1904.
Commission Chair Mark Laskow said each of the awardees or their survivors will also receive a financial grant.
Throughout the 113 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, $39.4 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
The awardees are:
- Kevin L. Heselton, Tiburon, Calif.
- Kevin D. Little, Jr., deceased, Milwaukee, Wis.
- Nathan Michael Stieg, Dickinson, N.D.
- Jayden Charles Concha, Dickinson, N.D.
- Merrill O. Naylor, Stephens City, Va.
- Richard William Dorrity, Livingston, Calif.
- Michael Lumahang, deceased, Ottawa, Ont.
- Jesse T. Haw, Ottawa, Ont.
- John Paul Hollyfield, Accokeek, Md.
- David E. Hammond, Gulf Breeze, Fla.
- Eric W. Edwards, Lodi, Calif.
- Jamie Alan Hyatt, deceased, Wood Lake, Minn.
- Vincent Santaniello, Uhrichsville, Ohio
- Harold Shaw, Uhrichsville, Ohio
- René Roy, Sherbrooke, Que.
- Bobby Lynn Arnold, deceased, Onalaska, Texas
- Tanner Douglas Boslau, Bend, Ore
- .James O. Vernon, Morton, Ill.
To nominate someone for the Carnegie Medal, complete a nomination form online, write the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission at 436 Seventh Ave., Suite 1101, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, or call 1-800-447-8900 (toll-free). More information on theCarnegie Medal and the history of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission can be found at carnegiehero.org. Find us on Facebook or Twitter.
Related articles:
- Friends remembered: Vincent Santaniello
- Overheard: Impulse 55
- Carnegie Medal presentation to René Roy
- March 2018 edition of imPULSE
- 2017 in review: 77 awards made, more than $850,000 given in grants
- Carnegie Medal presentation to family of Carnegie Hero Jamie Alan Hyatt
- Carnegie Medal presentation to Carnegie Hero David E. Hammond
- Carnegie Medal presentation to Vincent Santaniello and Harold Shaw
- Carnegie Medal presentation to the family of Michael Lumahang and Jesse T. Haw
- Carnegie Medal presentation to Carnegie Hero John Paul Hollyfield
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