Sandy Hook Heroes to be Awarded by Medal of Honor Recipients

NEWTOWN, Conn., April 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Our nation's greatest war heroes – Medal of Honor Recipients – will honor teachers and staff from Sandy Hook Elementary School, who acted courageously to protect children during the December shootings.  In a special ceremony three Recipients of the Medal of Honor will present the Congressional Medal of Honor Society's highest civilian award, the Citizen Honors Medal, to six staff members posthumously at Newtown High School on May 6^th at 4:30pm.

Family members will accept the Citizen Service Before Self Honors (Citizen Honors) Medals – on behalf of Rachel D'Avino, Dawn Hochsprung, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach and Victoria Soto. All six gave their live trying to protect children during the December shootings.

The Recipients will also present the CMOH Society's Certificate of Commendation to all of the teachers and staff of Sandy Hook who acted courageously during the tragedy.

"Many teachers and staff members disregarded their own safety that day to hide and protect the children in their care.  Those acts of courage, sacrifice, and selflessness are the very same traits identified with the Medal of Honor; only they were demonstrated at a critical moment in hometown USA, not on a battlefield far from home.  Recognizing these ordinary Americans who performed extraordinary acts at home is the very reason for our Citizen Honors program," explains Harold A. Fritz, President of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Each year, the Society's Citizen Honors program takes nominations nationwide for hometown citizen heroes who've saved lives or changed fate in amazing ways.  This year's nominations period closed at the end of 2012, and dozens of nominations were made for teachers and staff from the Sandy Hook school following the December 14^th shootings.

After two rounds of judging, four other Citizen Honorees were awarded Medals on March 25 of this year – Medal of Honor Day – at Arlington National Cemetery.  The Society decided the Sandy Hook heroes should be recognized separately with a special ceremony in Newtown. 

For more information on this year's Honorees and the Citizen Service Before Self Honors (CSBSH) program, visit www.csbsh.org or www.facebook.com/citizenheroes.

More information on the Medal of Honor can be found at www.CMOHS.org.

SOURCE The Congressional Medal of Honor Society & Foundation