16 January 2009
BSA Lifesavers
Posted by admin under: recognition .
John Friedlein knows a good story when he sees it and he shared it in Kentucky’s The News Enterprise. Two boys have been recognized by the national BSA for rendering life-saving aid to others.
Andrew “Drew” Grimes of Elizabethtown won a Heroism Award, and Kenny Huffman of Radcliff received an Award of Merit during a Jan. 9 ceremony.
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Drew, who is 15, saved a friend from drowning in the summer of 2007. While swimming at a residential pool, he noticed the other boy was drowning in the deep end, so he put his arm around his friend’s chest in a “water rescue carry” and dragged him to the side, Drew said in an e-mail. “I reacted before I thought of what to do.”
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As for Kenny, he saved his uncle’s life on Christmas night, 2007.
The two were walking dogs near Kenny’s home when the uncle, Daniel Hardwick, fell to his knees and grabbed his chest.
Since there were no nearby businesses, Kenny ran home — almost a mile — to get help. He even lost a shoe along the way. He was eight at the time.
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Retired Maj. Gen. Bill Barron presented them during a district dinner at St. James Catholic Church in Elizabethtown.
If you’re thinking that it’s been over a year since the events and they’re only now being recognized, you’re right. We had some boys render aid and were nominated for these awards, too. The national office doesn’t dole these things out like candy. Generally, only multiple eyewitness statements and thorough review at the local and national levelswill give a boy a chance at these awards. It takes a lot of dedication on the part of the leaders to shepherd this process along until deserving Scouts receive the awards. I’ve seen so many stories like these and knowing how difficult it is to get the awards approved, I know that there are probably hundreds of Boy Scouts who perform acts of bravery and importance who probably haven’t received awards for them. So, when you see a story talking about someone like Drew or Kenny, automatically multiply their heroism by 10 or 100 and be as proud as I am that young men like these are part of the great Boy Scouts of America.
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