Carnegie Medals Awarded to 19 for Extraordinary Acts of Civilian Heroism

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- In its third award announcement of 2010, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission today named 19 individuals as recipients of the Carnegie Medal.  The medal is given 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.  

The heroes announced today bring to 64 the number of awards made in 2010 to date and to 9,391 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 106 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, $32.7 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.  

Three of the awardees died in the performance of their heroic acts, each while helping to save a child from drowning.  Carnegie wrote in the Hero Fund's Deed of Trust that those who are injured or lose their lives in such acts are the "heroes of civilization."  The latest awardees are:

Resumes of the acts follow can be found at http://www.carnegiehero.org/awardees_recent.php. Fuller information on the Carnegie Medal and the history of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission can be found at www.carnegiehero.org

Contact:  Douglas R. Chambers

Toll free:  1-800-447-8900

SOURCE Carnegie Hero Fund Commission