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 city council meeting at Foley City Hall.
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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