BERWICK –In its fourth and final award announcement of 2008, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission named a Berwick man, Fred Hunt, Jr. along with 18 other individuals as recipients of the Carnegie Medal. The medal is awarded throughout the United States and Canada to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others. Three of the awardees lost their lives in the performance of their rescue acts.
Hunt died helping to save Maureen A. Jennings from drowning, and Qemal Agaj helped to save her on Cocoa Beach, Fla. on October 22, 2007. Jennings, 68, was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean when she was caught in a current while attempting to return to shore.
Hunt, 51, senior buyer, and others on the beach, including Agaj, 65, retired factory worker, were alerted to her situation. They entered the water and waded and swam out to Jennings. They then pushed her toward shore before succumbing to the current themselves. Jennings struggled through water to reach shore safely, receiving aid en route. Responding members of a rescue team recovered Agaj from the water, and then, joined by a lifeguard, returned Hunt to the beach. Hunt could not be revived, as he had drowned. Agaj recovered from exhaustion and ingesting water.
The recent 19 individual awardees range anywhere from California to New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Oregon, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
The heroes announced bring the total to 92, the number of awards made in 2008, and to 9,243 the total number of awards since the Pittsburgh-based Fund’s inception in 1904. Commission President Mark Laskow stated that each of the awardees or their next of kin will also receive a financial grant. Throughout the 104 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, $31.1 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
Resumes of the acts follow. To nominate someone for the Carnegie Medal, write the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, 436 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1101, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, or call 1-800-447-8900 (toll free). Fuller information on the Carnegie Medal and the history of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission can be found at www.carnegiehero.org
Article submitted to The Weekly Sentinel by Cindy Hunt courtesy of carnegiehero.org.
Photo caption: A verse from the New Testament encircles the back-side outer edge: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). (wwwCarnegieHero.org photos)
