In a double-ceremony held Sept. 23 at the Raleigh office of Sen. Ted Budd, two Carnegie heroes were celebrated and recognized.
Budd presented Daniel L. Weiss and the family of Antwuan Jackson with the Carnegie Medal. Jackson is a posthumous recipient of the Carnegie Medal.
“The Carnegie Medal is inscribed with the Holy Words of John 15:13, ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ Those words perfectly describe the North Carolina citizens I met. It was nothing short of inspiring to hear their stories, hear their love for others, and their act of courage that brought them this honor. North Carolina is a special state to have produced such heroes. It was my absolute honor to spend time with them and thank them on behalf of our state,” Budd said in a statement released after the presentation.
In May 2022, Weiss, 59, responded to the Greensboro, North Carolina, scene of a burning vehicle after an accident that left the driver unconscious. Seeing the woman slumped over the steering wheel, Weiss reached into the car and attempted to shake her awake. As flames grew and spread to breech the car’s passenger compartment through the air vents, he called for a fire extinguisher and attempted to quench the blaze. Although he emptied the extinguisher, the fire continued to burn. Finding the driver’s door to be jammed shut, Weiss ran to the passenger side of the vehicle, fully entered the vehicle and pulled the woman from the driver’s seat, over the center console, and out of the car to the ground. The flames continued to grow and engulf the vehicle’s entire cab. The woman was not burned but was taken to the hospital for injuries sustained in the accident. Weiss suffered minor smoke inhalation and recovered.
Weiss, his wife, Jymmi, and their sons, Casey and Cody were present for the ceremony.
Accepting on behalf of her dad, was Taynea Craig, Jackson’s oldest daughter. Also present were his other four children, A’Janae, Takai, and Na’tion Jackson, and Princeton Craig, and his mother, Frances Pedro.
In June, Jackson, 40, was at a large family gathering on the beach in North Topsail Beach, North Carolina, when two women and two young girls were pulled away from shore by the current into an area where they couldn’t touch bottom. The women called for help. As family members, including Jackson, responded, one cousin placed the young girls on a bodyboard and then held to the board while awaiting further help. Jackson swam to the women and pushed them from behind toward shore. Other men from separate groups entered the water and helped aid the women, girls, and the cousin back to safety in wadable water. Jackson remained stranded in the rough current, beyond the reach of some men and responding police officers. A rescue disc attached to a rope was thrown into the water in Jackson’s direction to no effect. Ultimately, Jackson submerged, did not resurface, and could not be found by rescue crews. Jackson’s body was never recovered.