National Guardsman Saved Mother and Daughter

Police: Good Samaritan saved mother, daughter
KOB.com Web Staff
February 20, 2018

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Police say the man who opened fire in a deadly southeast Albuquerque shooting, likely saved the lives of a mother and daughter.

A 12-year National Guard veteran stopped to help and told police the man pointed his gun at him, so he shot him.

Police say the mother feared what would have happened if that veteran had not intervened.

"She said, 'He saved our lives,'" Drobik said Monday evening. "I mean, that's how much she was in fear of getting killed by this guy."

The Good Samaritan is not facing charges. The district attorney is reviewing the case.
read more here

Army honors heroic cadets after latest school shooting

Army awards heroism medals to JROTC cadets killed in Florida school shooting
FOX News
By Lucia I. Suarez Sang
February 20, 2018

Three junior ROTC cadets who were killed in the Florida high school shooting last week will be honored with heroism medals by the U.S. Army.

A spokesman for the U.S. Army told Fox News on Tuesday that Cadet Command approved Junior ROTC Heroism Medals for cadets Alaina Petty, Peter Wang and Martin Duque.

The family of Petty, 14, were presented the medal during her funeral service Monday, at which more than 1,500 people attended to pay their respects.

Wang’s family received his medal at his service Tuesday morning.

According to students and teachers, Wang, 15, died in his junior ROTC uniform while helping students, teachers and staff escape from the shooting rampage.

An online petition to the White House sought to give Wang military honors at his funeral. It had more than 43,700 signatures as of Tuesday.

“His selfless and heroic actions have led to the survival of dozens in the area. Wang died a hero, and deserves to be treated as such, and deserves a full honors military burial,” the petition said.
read more here

Students did the best they could that day. Teachers did the best they could that day too. Parents did the best they could when they sent them off to school that day.

So, why didn't politicians do the best they could long before this day? Oh, now I remember. They kept saying "now is not the time" to talk about any of this. Looks like they're going to have to talk now and explain why they never did anything about any of this after so many kids didn't make it home from school on too many other days!

As Florida Students Head to State Capital, Lawmakers Fail to Take Up Assault Rifle Bill

101st Soldier rescued people from burning car...including himself!

A soldier caught on fire while rescuing people from a burning car. It didn't stop him
Ledger Enquirer
Scott Berson
January 29, 2018

"As I was [unbuckling her seatbelt] the whole vehicle caught fire, and I just felt a blanket of fire wrap around my body, and everything just happened in a matter of seconds from there," Davis said in an Army news release.. "But before I could get the other half of her body out, she caught fire from all the fuel that was on her. I noticed she was on fire [shortly] before noticing that I was on fire too."

Maj. Gen. Andrew Poppas, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) commanding general, pins the Soldier's Medal on Staff Sgt. Nicholas Davis, C Battery, 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) artillery cannon crew member and section chief, during a ceremony held at Fort Campbell, Jan. 22, 2018. Sgt. Samantha Stoffregen Special to the Ledger-Enquirer

It was a normal summer day on June 9, 2017 when Staff Sgt. Nicholas Davis, C Battery, 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Artillery cannon crew member and section chief, was driving home to Ellijay, Ga., from Fort Campbell in Kentucky.

As he was cruising down the road near Nashville, he noticed a car overturned on its passenger side. It had flipped almost completely over, coming to rest on a slight downward slope, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Few other drivers seemed concerned, according to the Army.

"I was pulling up, and I noticed there was a small engine fire underneath the belly of the car, so I jumped out and ran up to the vehicle," Davis said.

When he reached the car, he found two people, Rick and Sharon Steiert, trapped in the vehicle. Most distressingly, a can of fuel that had been in the back of the car had tumbled during the crash. It had now become wedged under Sharon's legs, and she was covered in gasoline.
read more here

San Diego Marine Honored After Saving UPS Driver

San Diego Marine honored for saving UPS driver's life
CBS 8 News
By Abbie Alford, Reporter
January 27, 2018

Staff Sgt. Vuong said he was just upholding his Marine pledge of honor, courage and commitment.

SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – A special honor Friday for a San Diego Marine who was in the right place at the right time to save a life.

Staff Sergeant Hai Vuong Rushed into action when two semi-trucks collided on a San Bernardino freeway last November – pulling one of the drivers to safety.

Staff Sgt. Vuong was honored with the Liberty Mutual Insurance Lifesaver award for his heroic actions. “I just happened to be there at the right time and the right place,” he said.

Staff Sgt. Vuong was driving on Interstate-15 in San Bernardino with his family when the two semi-trucks collided. He was able to safely pull over and rescue one of the drivers.

Vuong said he could smell fuel leaking into the cab and feared it could explode. The driver had a gash on his head was bleeding.
read more here

National Guardsman Died Saving Others from FIre

National Guardsman Rescued Others Before Dying in NYC Fire

Associated Press

December 31, 2017

NEW YORK -- The victims of New York City's deadliest fire in decades include a man who immigrated to the Bronx from Ghana and dreamed of becoming a military policeman.

A relative told The New York Times that Emmanuel Mensah had rescued a number of people before going back into the burning building, where he died of smoke inhalation.

read more here

Massive fire that killed 12 started by child playing with stove, causing 'unprecedented' loss

ABC News

Julia Jacobo and Morgan Winsor

December 29, 2017

A massive apartment fire that killed at least 12 people -- including a 1-year-old girl found with her mother in a bathtub -- was sparked by a small child playing with a stove, city officials said.

When the family fled the first-floor apartment unit, they left the door open, allowing the flames to spread into the stairwell and shoot up the staircase of the five-story residential building.

"It took the fire so quickly upstairs, people had little time to react," New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at a press conference Friday morning. "Open stairs act as chimneys."

The burned-out halls of the building are seen in video released by New York fire officials on Friday. Soot and ash cover the hallway and stairwell from floor to ceiling.

read more here

Joint Base Lewis McCord Soldier Saved Lives After Amtrak Crash

Soldier Jumped From Pickup Truck to Help Rescue Passengers in Washington Train Crash

KTLA 5 News

December 19, 2017

A soldier from Joint Base Lewis-McChord says he saw the Amtrak train plunge from an overpass in Monday's crash and jumped into action to help save the people trapped inside.

"I saw many people that were just paralyzed with fear and I don't blame them at all. I mean, it was kind of a hard situation to watch unfold."

Second Lt. Robert McCoy hit the brakes on his pickup truck just in time, he told KTLA sister station KCPQ in Seattle.

"The train is going south and I'm just kind of driving, just driving, and I hear a loud noise and I look up and I see the train and it hits the concrete walls on the side and when it hits the walls -- the walls kind of exploded -- and the train just falls off. I see the train fall and it kind of falls on itself ... and it hits three vehicles that were in front of me -- a semi, an F-150, and a Kia Soul."

The soldier serves in the Army's medical field and he knew he had to do something.

read more here

Wisconsin National Guard Soldier Saved Toddler

Wisconsin National Guard soldier saves choking toddler at O'Hare

NBC 25 News

Sgt. Katie Eggers

December 19, 2017

CHICAGO — A Wisconsin National Guard Soldier traveling on military orders performed the Heimlich maneuver on a toddler, saving the girl’s life Dec. 7, 2017 at O’Hare International Airport.

Spc. Jasmyne Harris, a supply specialist with the Milwaukee-based 32nd Military Police Company, was waiting for a flight to Oklahoma City to learn about new protective masks her unit would be receiving, when she decided to grab some food before her flight.

“I was going to stop at one restaurant, but then something told me to just keep going, so I found another restaurant that’s actually by the gate,” Harris said.

Right as Harris sat down there was a commotion. A waitress yelled that a girl was choking. Harris saw that the toddler wasn’t making a sound, and the mother was unsure of how to properly help her child.

“I just went straight into reaction mode,” Harris said.

Harris went straight over to the family and began performing the Heimlich maneuver on the child until the girl was able to breathe again and started crying.

read more here

Marine Collecting Toys for Tots Bags Shoplifter

Marine Corps veteran stops Texas shoplifter

WTHR 13 News

December 13, 2017

PLANO, Texas (WTHR) - Marines collecting toys for children outside a north Texas Walmart did not hesitate to stop a shoplifter last weekend.

Even in his dress blues and slippery patent leather shoes, Nathan Hanson managed to chase down the suspect.

"I fell on my face when I got over there. And then I got up and I yelled at him, 'You're not getting away, I'm going to catch you!'" Hanson recalled.

In a photo snapped at the scene, Hanson had lost his hat, but got his man.

read more here

Pulse Heroic Officer Out of Job Because of PTSD?

UPDATE
Eatonville officer who saved victims during Pulse attack still losing job, but will get pension
By: WFTV Web Staff UPDATE

UPDATE

Community raises funds for Pulse first responder with PTSD who's losing jobPeople from across the world have raised more than $30,000 for a Pulse first responder with post-traumatic stress disorder who is being terminated by the Eatonville Police Department.  
Cpl. Omar Delgado was left with severe PTSD after being one of the first officers to respond to the mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse on June 12, 2016. The massacre left 49 people dead and more than 68 wounded, including survivor Angel Colón, whom Delgado dragged out of the club. read more here

What kind of a message does this send to First Responders across the country?

“I guess I’m being punished, because I did cry for help,” Delgado said.

What kind of message does this send to veterans with PTSD and the troops still afraid to speak up about needing help?

These are the same people who risk their lives for everyone else, and now they are still risking their own lives because they do not get the help they need when they need it!

After you read this story, maybe you can explain how this is still happening?

9 Investigates: Pulse hero let go from Eatonville Police Department

WFTV News
Karla Ray
December 4, 2017

“I was able to save Angel, and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but now I suffer through my agony,” Delgado told Ray about his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

EATONVILLE, Fla. - 9 Investigates learned an Eatonville Police officer, who was called a hero after pulling Pulse survivor Angel Colon to safety during the June 2016 attack, is now being let go from his department. 

Investigative Reporter Karla Ray obtained a town resolution that is being voted on during an upcoming meeting, that would pay out some of officer Omar Delgado’s accrued sick time.  It states that his last day will be December 31.

No one from the town would comment on the reason for separation, but Delgado told 9 Investigates he believes he’s being pushed out due to his PTSD.  He admits that an evaluation showed he was unfit for duty, and the town will not allow him to stay on light duty.

Delgado has been with the department for nine and a half years, putting him just shy of the tenure he needs to receive retirement benefits from the town.
read more here

UPDATE
This story got to me and good time to remind folks what happens when they do not get help after taking care of us.

This is from yesterday,

BRIDGEPORT, CT — Police are investigating after a Bridgeport police officer is suspected to have committed suicide in Seaside Park, reports the Connecticut Post. There was a heavy police presence at the park for nearly two hours after a man was found unresponsive in his silver car with city of Bridgeport license plates.

And this is how 2017 started

Second cop commits suicide on Staten Island this month 

About two weeks ago, NYPD Officer Yong Yun — a former borough cop of the month...

Sgt. Freddy Dietz Jr., 53, had been with SAPD since 1983. He served as the city jailer when the SAPD had its own jail.

His father, Fred Dietz Sr., also was an SAPD officer, beginning in 1966 and retiring as a lieutenant in 1997. 

His father said he was struggling to understand the situation. He said his son loved being a police officer and helped a lot of people during his career.

*******

According to Karen Solomon, founder of Blue HELP, which raises awareness of officer suicide and advocates for mental health benefits, six police officers have died from suicide in Massachusetts in 2017. Another five Massachusetts officers died from suicide in 2016, compared with two killed in the line of duty.

*******

After Derek Fish finished his patrol last Friday afternoon, the sheriff’s deputy drove his cruiser to his department’s regional headquarters in Columbia, S.C., and parked in the back.It had, for all purposes, been a normal shift, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott would later say.Fish had answered calls. Made an arrest. Written a report.“And then, for some unknown reason, he did what he did,” Lott said.Using his service weapon, Fish killed himself inside his patrol car.The deputy was 28. He didn’t leave a note.

******* 

An off-duty police officer fatally shot himself at his Queens home Sunday afternoon, police said.The 37-year-old male officer, whose name has not been released, was found dead before 3 p.m. at 113th Ave. by 205th St. in St. Albans, police said.Not including Sunday’s death, four active NYPD officers committed suicide this year, according to NYPD stats. 

In 2016, four officers and one school safety agent killed themselves.

******* 

A 47-year-old Chicago police officer was found dead Sunday in a possible suicide, two years after her sergeant husband appeared to take his own life under mysterious circumstances.Cops say Dina Markham was found by a family member in her bathtub on Sunday after taking pills, the Chicago Tribune reported. Her death is being investigated as a suicide.

Heroic Actions: TSA Agent Took Smoking Bag Away

This is a good story of a TSA Agent risking his life. He didn't know what was in the smoking bag. It didn't matter. He didn't want to take a chance with the lives of everyone else around him.

Smoking Camera Battery Sparks Scare at Orlando Airport, Canceling Flights
NBC News
by PHIL HELSEL
November 11, 2017

A lithium ion camera battery apparently caught fire and began smoking at Orlando International Airport on Friday, causing a panic that toppled stanchions, raised fears of a shooting and canceled around 24 flights, authorities said.

The airport said that a loud noise was reported at around 5 p.m. in front of a security checkpoint, and "In an abundance of caution, passengers inside the terminal were instructed to exit the building while Orlando Police and Orlando International Airport staff investigated.”

Greater Orlando International Aviation Authority CEO Phil Brown said in a letter posted online Saturday that the camera battery inside the bag apparently caught fire and began to smoke, the passenger dropped the bag and emergency responders moved it away from crowds.

"Others hearing the luggage being dropped, stanchions falling, and rapid movement mistook the sounds as gunfire and within seconds a spontaneous evacuation of the main terminal occurred," Brown said in the letter.
read more here

But the story got even better! 

TSA releases footage of agent, army veteran grabbing bag during security scare at OIA

He was in the Army for 20 years, then joined the TSA after 9-11. Rick Perez said "Somebody had to do it and it was me."

Gary Sinise Foundation Starts Veterans Day With New Home

Disabled veteran gets new home from Gary Sinise Foundation

FOX 35 News

Noelle Newton

November 10, 2017

"Thank you for all you've given on behalf of this nation. It's a great honor to say ‘welcome home, my friend.’ May God bless you and your beautiful family always, and may God bless the United States of America you so faithfully served,” said Sinise.

A disabled veteran will spend this Veteran's Day in a brand new home. With that home comes a sense of independence he has not been able to enjoy since being shot on the battlefield.

A day before Veteran's Day, Alan Babin Junior and his family arrived to their new home.

Babin nearly lost his life in 2003 trying to save the life of another solder in Iraq. He endured more than 70 abdominal surgeries and five brain surgeries.
read more here

Heroic Devin Wilson Murder Update: Man Captured

Suspect accused of murdering Memphis father outside IHOP captured

FOX 13 News

by: Zach Crenshaw 

Updated: Nov 8, 2017 - 4:18 PM

(L-R) Derrick Harris, Devin Wilson

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - An arrest has been made in a murder that happened at a local IHOP in May.

U.S. Marshals Service told FOX13 Derrick Harris was arrested Wednesday in Chicago, Illinois.

An arrest arrant was issued for Harris on May 28, 2017. Harris is accused of shooting and killing Devin Wilson at the IHOP located at 1277 East Shelby Drive.

Wilson was a young father and an Air Force veteran. Police told FOX13 he was trying to break up a domestic dispute outside the restaurant when he was shot and killed.
read more here

Heroic Homeless Navy Veteran Gets Help

Homeless Navy veteran who helped crash victim gets second chance
Local 10 ABC News
By Carlos Suarez - Anchor/Reporter
October 24, 2017

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. - Navy veteran Travis Wilson's journey to this moment in life hasn't been easy one, but it sure is inspiring.

"It’s been surreal and it's really been like a dream. I'm having to check myself to see if this is really going on," he said.

A homeless veteran who made some mistakes but never forgot the Navy creed: always courageous.

Last week, Wilson came to the rescue of a man involved in a car crash in Pembroke Pines and held up the driver's neck until help arrived.

"I've had a speckled past that I brought on myself and it's not like people are always in line wanting to say 'Hey, we want you. We recognize that you're a good person,'" Wilson said.

The act caught the eye of city leaders who on Tuesday met with Wilson and the folks at Operation Sacred Trust in hopes of finding him a home and a job.
read more here


Read first report here

Vietnam Veteran Capt. Gary Rose Received Medal of Honor

WATCH LIVE: President Trump to award Medal of Honor to Vietnam War veteran

PBS
Elizabeth Flock
October 23, 2017

President Donald Trump will award the Medal of Honor on Monday to a Vietnam War veteran from Alabama who risked his life on multiple occasions while serving as a medic.

Retired Army Capt. Gary M. Rose, of Huntsville, Alabama, will receive the country’s highest military honor for “conspicuous gallantry,” the White House said in a statement.

“From September 11 through September 14, 1970, while his unit was engaged with a much larger force deep in enemy-controlled territory, then-Sergeant Rose repeatedly ran into the line of enemy fire to provide critical medical aid to his comrades, using his own body on one occasion to shield a wounded American from harm,” the White House said. 
source PBS

Homeless Veteran Saved Life While Looking For Help

UPDATE: Heroic Homeless Navy Veteran Gets Help

Homeless veteran rushes to save victim after life-threatening car crash

ABC NEWS

Mark Osborne

October 20, 2017

Travis Wilson was simply signing up for housing when the homeless veteran heard a boom nearby and rushed to the aid of a bloodied victim in a serious car accident.

Wilson, who told ABC affiliate WPLG he is a former Navy corpsman, was first on the scene at the accident in Pembroke Pines, Florida, in harrowing video provided to the station. In the video, you see Wilson leaning into the crushed passenger side window of one of the vehicles and assisting the driver with blood splattered across the front seat.

"We get around the corner and I see what's going on and speed up, and then, I just turn it on and go sprinting to the vehicle," Wilson told WPLG.

Wilson stabilized the driver's neck and waited until paramedics arrived on the scene.

"You can't leave the scene," Wilson said. "I can't leave the scene -- it doesn't matter if the vehicle catches on fire. It doesn't matter. I'm there with him. If we're gonna die, we're gonna die together."

read more here

Gunman Kept Shooting, Paramedic Kept Helping Others After Being Shot

Las Vegas shooting: San Bernardino paramedic helps save lives after being wounded

ABC Eyewitness News
Elex Michaelson
October 8, 2017 

While helping a gunshot victim, Jimmy himself was shot in the leg. He didn't tell Matt about the gunshot wound, at first. He simply told him to run.

LAS VEGAS (KABC) --

Jimmy Grovom is a trained paramedic. But he never thought he'd need to work during his Las Vegas vacation.

The Mission Viejo native came to the Route 91 Harvest festival with his girlfriend, Briana, his brother, Matt, and a group of their friends.

They were enjoying the music when shots rang out. Jimmy knew it was time to get to work.

"It's just how I'm wired, I guess," he said. "I like to help people when I see them in need."

Amid the gunfire, Matt Grovom watched as a woman standing next to him was hit.

"When I first heard the shots, the first person I yelled for is my brother," he said. "That just says something about him right there."

Jimmy began to administer aid to that woman and then moved on to help someone else. Then there was another round of gunfire.
read more here

Man Risked Life to Save Veteran and Wife in Las Vegas

Veteran talks to man who shielded him, dying wife, after Vegas shooting
KWTX 10 News
Julie Hays
October 5, 2017

WACO, Texas (KWTX) An Army veteran whose wife of 32 years was killed in the Las Vegas shooting rampage heads home Friday, but not before he talked to the stranger who shielded him and his dying wife as shots rang out.

“It was a selfless act of kindness,” Tony Burditus said Thursday.

His wife Denise was among the 58 who died when Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival Sunday night on the Las Vegas Strip.

Burditus will fly back to West Virginia Friday after the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office released his wife’s body.

But before he left Las Vegas he had an emotional phone conversation with the stranger who threw himself on top of the couple as bullets flew.

Sam Porter, a CPA from California, was attending the three-day music festival outside the Mandalay Bay hotel with 15 friends, mostly Los Angeles firefighters, when bullets began to rain down around them.

As news organizations began to identify the shooting victims and showed photographs, Porter immediately recognized Denise.
read more here

Army of Heroes Showed Up in Las Vegas

Here are a few more stories about veterans still risking their lives for the sake of others!

Matthew Cobos, US Army

Cobos used his belt as a tourniquet to stop bleeding and even used his fingers to try to plug wounds. Cobos told family and friends that he could see the shots hitting the ground and ricocheting around him.

The young soldier is stationed with the Army in Hawaii where he is a cavalry scout. He was at the Route 91 Harvest Festival with his sister and her boyfriend during the shooting, and is for the time being back with his family in California.

Dr. James Sebesta, Ret. Army

is a surgeon who retired last year from service at Madigan Army Medical Center after an Army career that included four deployments to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sunday, he encountered some of the worst carnage of his career during what he called a “prolonged date night” as he attended the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. After surviving the onslaught of bullets unleashed in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, he sent his wife away with friends to a safe place while he stayed behind to help the wounded.

Aaron Stalker, Army veteran

While thousands of people scrambled from the parking lot where the Route 91 Harvest music festival was held as bullets rained down from overhead, Stalker ran straight into the crowd. He searched frantically for his girlfriend and her mother. Unable to find them in the chaos, "I just started helping anyone and everyone I could," Stalker said. 

He went to the first wounded person he could find and ripped up a piece of clothing to use as a tourniquet. He made splints, patched bullet holes, flipped over the plastic barriers that had been set up around the perimeter of the festival and turned them into stretchers. With two other men whose names he never learned, he carried the wounded to cars that would take them to the hospital.

Robert Ledbetter, Army veteran 

was a scout sniper for the U.S. Army Rangers during one tour of duty in Iraq. He was trained for war.

Those instincts kicked in on Sunday night at a different battlefield: about 40 yards from the stage where Jason Aldean was performing.

Ledbetter, 42, now a loan officer in Las Vegas, said at first it sounded like a firecracker or a firework. “We all looked around,” he said, as he and his wife and family members made sense of the popping sound.

Another burst of rounds went off, and someone about four rows ahead at the concert dropped to the ground. He saw Aldean escorted from the stage.