In its second announcement of 2023, the Carnegie Hero Fund is honored to recognize 16 civilians who risked serious injury or death to save others, including three teachers who, in separate incidents, drowned while trying to save children struggling in deep water.
Each individual will receive the Carnegie Medal, North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism.
Among those saved by this quarter’s Medal recipients were 10 children, a police officer being assaulted, and a 30-year-old skier who, dangling more than two stories above the ground, lost consciousness while being strangled by his entangled backpack as he attempted to exit a ski lift.
The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others. With this announcement, the Carnegie Medal has been awarded to 10,371 individuals since the inception of the Pittsburgh-based Fund in 1904.
Each of the recipients or their survivors will receive a financial grant. Throughout the 119 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, more than $44 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
The awardees are:
Brady M. Pratt, McAllen, Texas
Manjit Singh, deceased, Fresno, California
James Blouin, Sequim, Washington
Ryan Ross, Port Angeles, Washington
Robert Cody Moore, Bellaire, Texas
Thomas Kenning, deceased, St. Petersburg, Florida
Aleem Ramji, deceased, Toronto
John M. Murphy, Antioch, California
Victor Villanueva, deceased, New Braunfels, Texas
Casandra Joann Kendrick, deceased, Seguin, Texas
Kealii J. Akahane, Bellevue, Washington
Mickey Wilson, Golden, Colorado
Jessica Lea Embry, deceased, Wilmington, North Carolina
Rayna Michele Montgomery, Stuart, Virginia
Joseph P. Cockerill, Lincoln, Nebraska
Gerold Prather, Kalamazoo, Michigan
To nominate someone for the Carnegie Medal, complete a nomination form online or write to the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, 436 Seventh Ave., Suite 1101, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. More information on the Carnegie Medal and the history of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission can be found at carnegiehero.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.