From left, Foley (Ala.) Mayor John Koniar presents the Carnegie Medal to Mary Dueitt and Fred Murphy, the surviving parents of Carnegie Hero Bradley Eugene Murphy during a July 15, 2019, city council meeting at Foley City Hall.
“The proclamation tonight is well-deserved,” said Koniar. “It brought the family back a lot of pain and that was a sad thing to see, but the honor was well-deserved.”
Steven B. Wahler, a 47-year-old IT manager from Owensboro, and Murphy, a 21-year-old landscaper of Elberta, Ala., both died during an Oct. 9, 2017, rescue of a 12-year-old boy who was carried by a rip current 100 feet from shore near Gulf Shores, Ala. Ocean conditions included rough surf and waves 5 feet high breaking near shore when Wahler entered the water. With a boogie board, he swam to the boy and placed him on the board. Wahler began pushing the board toward shore, but the two were separated by a breaking wave. The boy’s mother, also using a boogie board, reached her son and guided him back to shore. Murphy, who had also entered the water, swam toward Wahler and appeared to reach him before both men submerged.
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