Army veteran-mailman killed helping protect woman

Mailman fatally shot by teen was father of four, Army veteran

KOAT
Kay Dimanche
Reporter
Jozelyn Escobedo
Digital Editor
April 23, 2019

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

A U.S. Postal Service mailman was gunned down Monday afternoon and police believe a 17-year-old boy is the one who shot him. According to an arrest warrant, 47-year-old Jose Hernandez was trying to intervene in a fight between the teen and the teen’s mother at the time of the shooting.

Hernandez's Bishop tells KOAT he was an Army veteran, husband and father of four.

The shooting happened in the 700 block of Terracotta SW, which is near Tower Road and 98th Street.

Xavier Zamora's mother told police Hernandez was trying to help her, but Zamora became "aggressive" with the mailman because he tried using Mace on the teen.
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Vietnam Veteran Col. Philip Conran may get MOH

Should this airman receive the Medal of Honor for Laos battle? A congressman thinks so

Air Force Times
By: Stephen Losey
April 19, 2019

A California congressman is pushing to upgrade a retired Air Force colonel’s Air Force Cross to a Medal of Honor for “extraordinary heroism” during a fierce 1969 battle in Laos.

Col. Philip J. Conran receives an Air Force Cross for his heroic actions in Laos on Oct. 6, 1969. (Courtesy of the Robert F. Dorr Collection)

Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-California, on Monday introduced a bill, HR 2330, that would authorize the president to upgrade Col. Philip Conran’s Air Force Cross to the nation’s highest award for valor.

On Oct. 6, 1969, as the United States’ war in Vietnam spilled over into Laos, then-Maj. Philip Conran was part of a mission that went south when a helicopter was shot down, according to a narrative provided by Carbajal’s staff. Conran took charge during the rescue attempt, and repeatedly put himself at risk to save 44 of his fellow troops, according to the legislation.
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OEF OIF Veteran killed by crane died saving co-worker

Father of four killed in crane accident at SoHo construction site

PIX 11 News
BY KRISTINE GARCIA AND CRISTIAN BENAVIDES
APRIL 13, 2019

SOHO, Manhattan — A construction worker who was a father of four and war veteran died early Saturday during a crane incident at a Manhattan construction site.

Gregory Echevarria, 34, was found unconscious and unresponsive with severe trauma to his body at a construction site in the vicinity of Varick and Broome streets around 3:15 a.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The construction crew, that also included Echevarria's brother, was setting up a crane counterweight when it slipped, fatally striking Echevarria, a source told PIX11.

Echevarria's final act was reportedly pushing a coworker out of the way, saving his life.

"He's selfless, that's one thing I can say," family friend Duane Davis told PIX11 Saturday outside Echevarria's childhood home in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

"The best father, son, everything," family member Judi Cruz said of Echevarria.

Family told PIX11 that Echevarria was a father of four, including a three-month-old, and that he was a veteran. Echevarria did four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan over 10 years, according to family members, who are devastated that his baby boy is left without a father.
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Marine received Navy Cross...52 years after acts of heroism

How a bloody Ka-Bar knife fight during the Vietnam War got this Marine a Navy Cross 52 years later

Marine Corps Times
By: Shawn Snow
April 8, 2019

For his heroism under fire, Stogner was finally awarded the Navy Cross nearly 52 years after his actions saved the life of his machine gunner and other Marines in his company.

Lance Cpl. James H. Stogner was a young 18-year-old Marine ammo humper serving with a machine gun team in Vietnam.

Marines on patrol in Vietnam in March, 1967. James Stogner, the fourth Marine Marine in the patrol, was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism during the Vietnam War. (Courtesy photo)

On the evening of April 5, 1967, as the sun set, Stogner and machine gunner Cpl. Eli Fobbs along with other Marines assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines were tasked to push across a tree line and hedgerow towards a village suspected of hiding North Vietnamese Army, or NVA, troops.

But on this mission, NVA troops were lying in wait to ambush the Marines.

Stogner continued to crawl and moved undetected towards Fobbs’ screams, where he found four NVA soldiers kicking and abusing his comrade.

Stogner killed one of the NVA troops quietly with his Ka-Bar as the enemy soldier moved towards vegetation Stogner was hiding in, and a second NVA soldier was killed in similar fashion.

With two NVA soldiers remaining, Stogner stormed the position armed with his knife, thrusting it into one of the men’s chests as hand to hand combat ensued.

All four NVA troops were killed as Stogner slung Fobbs over his shoulder and grabbed his M60 machine gun, carrying him to friendly lines through a hail of gunfire and grenade explosions.
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U.S. Army's 75th Ranger will receive Bronze and Silver Star in same deployment

Air Force Operator to Receive Silver, Bronze Star for Same Deployment

Military.com
By Oriana Pawlyk
3 Apr 2019

The U.S. Air Force will award a special tactics airman two medals for valor for separate missions in Afghanistan in which he risked his life to save others.

Tech. Sgt. Cam Kelsch, a tactical air control party operator assigned to the 17th Special Tactics Squadron, 24th Special Operations Wing. (U.S. Air Force)

Tech. Sgt. Cam Kelsch, a tactical air control party operator assigned to the 17th Special Tactics Squadron, 24th Special Operations Wing, will receive the Silver Star and Bronze Star with "V" device in a ceremony at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler, Georgia, on April 9, Air Force Special Operations Command announced Tuesday.

Kelsch, 29, from Ventura, California, exposed himself to direct enemy fire while accompanying members of the U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment during a night raid on April 25, 2018, in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel/Resolute Support in Afghanistan. The team was reportedly sent out to neutralize a high-value target, but the service did not disclose where the raid took place, or how long the battle lasted
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Fort Bragg soldier received Soldier's Medal

Army soldier receives heroism medal for saving two lives after car accident

Army Times
By: Joshua Axelrod
April 2, 2019

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., presents Army Capt. Jacob Riffe with the Soldier's Medal at a ceremony March 22 at Fort Bragg, N.C. (Staff Sgt. Terrance Payton/Army) 

An Army captain was recently awarded the service’s highest non-combat heroism medal for helping two people after a nasty car accident.

Capt. Jacob Riffe — a 29-year-old current operations officer with the 264th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command — was given the Soldier’s Medal for heroism during a March 22 ceremony at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

“I was pretty fortunate to be there in the right time and place to help all those people,” Riffe told Army Times.

In April 2018, Riffe and his then-5-year-old son were traveling from Fort Lee, Virginia, to Fort Bragg on I-95 when he noticed a car “kind of acting strange.”

His suspicion about that car was confirmed when it suddenly darted across the highway over an embankment on the side of the road and crashed into a farm fence. Riffe said he immediately pulled over and told his son to stay in the car while he went to assess the situation.
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Motorcycle officer and big rig trucker saved teen from suicide

Officer’s Quick Thinking, Presence Of Big Rig Helps Prevent Teen Suicide In Arlington

March 27, 2019

“I’ve had it happen in my family – loss due to suicide and it’s not a good thing,” Crawford said. “(I) always ask what could I have done. Well, today, I did something. Maybe he can get some help. Maybe he can’t. But today it didn’t happen.”

ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – The Arlington Police Department is heaping praise on one of its own for quick-thinking that helped prevent a suicide Wednesday morning.

Police said around 8:30 a.m., a teenage boy looked like he was getting ready to jump off the Kelly Elliott Bridge over I-20.

Cpl. Deric Sheriff, a 15-year veteran motorcycle officer, flagged down an 18-wheeler and directed the driver to pull up and stop underneath the bridge.

The big rig was 13 feet tall, a perfect height for this unusual situation.
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MOH ceremony for Army Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins

Trump presents Medal of Honor to family of Iraq war hero

By Associated Press
March 27, 2019

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump can recognize individuals for contributions to the arts and humanities, to science and technology and for other gifts to American society, but the Medal of Honor is one of the only awards he gives out regularly, recognizing military members living or dead for acts of bravery against an enemy.

President Donald Trump presents a posthumous Medal of Honor for U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Travis Atkins, to his surviving son Trevor Oliver, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 27, 2019. On June 1, 2007 while serving in Iraq, Atkins tackled a suicide bomber, shielding three of his fellow soldiers from the explosion, but resulting in his own death.Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Trump on Wednesday presented his eighth Medal of Honor, this time to the family of Army Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins, who gave his life in 2007 to save fellow soldiers from an Iraqi suicide bomber.

The president, who received a series of deferments to avoid military service during the Vietnam War, speaks highly of medal recipients. He recounts for White House guests the details of the heroic acts for which the recipients are being recognized and, at times speaks of them using language that suggests he could not have matched their bravery.

"America is the greatest force for peace, justice and freedom the world has ever known because of you and people like you," Trump said at the October ceremony for retired Marine Sgt. Maj. John Canley , the most recent medal recipient. "There are very few. There are very few. Brave people, but very, very few like you, John."

The 80-year-old Canley's heroism during the Vietnam War included twice scaling a hospital wall in view of the enemy to help extract wounded Marines.

At an earlier ceremony, Trump said Medal of Honor recipients are a godsend.

"Our nation is rich with blessings, but our greatest blessings of all are the patriots like John and all of you that just stood, and, frankly, many of the people in this room — I exclude myself, and a few of the politicians, who, like John, carry our freedom on their shoulders, march into the face of evil, and fight to their very last breath so that we can live in freedom, and safety, and peace," he said before presenting the medal to the widow of John A. Chapman. The Air Force sergeant was critically wounded and died in 2002 while trying to rescue a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan.

Trump asked past Medal of Honor recipients attending the August 2018 event to stand and be recognized.
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Heroic Travis Air Base Airman saved lives in California

Reserve Citizen Airman’s quick action saves lives

Air Force Reserve Command
By Staff Sgt. Daniel Phelps
349th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
Published March 05, 2019

Staff Sgt. Emily Johnson, 349th Aeromedical Staging Squadron admin assistant, poses for a photo at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., on March 4, 2019. In January, Johnson helped save lives in a multiple car crash on Interstate 80 near Fairfield, Calif. during rush hour. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Daniel Phelps)

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.
It was just another day for Staff Sgt. Emily Johnson, 349th Aeromedical Staging Squadron administrative assistant. She had finished up work at Travis Air Force Base, California, assisting members of the 349th Air Mobility Wing with travel voucher issues. After a change of clothes, she was on her way to class in Vallejo, where she was taking classes to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor.

As she drove down I-80 during its treacherous rush hour, the truck in front of her changed lanes revealing a 65-mile-per-hour collision course with a stopped car.

“The vehicle just casually merged over,” she said. “So, I didn’t think anything of it. Then all of a sudden, there was a stalled car in front of me. I slammed on my breaks, going 65. I had maybe 30 feet to stop.”

Johnson sat there for a moment in the carpool lane to process as cars zoomed around her.

“I sat there in my car and looked behind me,” she said. “I kept thinking, ‘I’m going to get hit, I’m going to get hit.’ I couldn’t stay there. I needed to get over.”

She quickly cut around the car, parked about 20 feet in front of it, and turned on her hazard lights. Once settled, she called 911 and told dispatch there was going to be an accident on the highway. Johnson then rushed to the driver in the stalled car, an elderly woman.

“I told her, ‘Get out of your car, get out of your car. You’re going to get hit. You’re not going to live,” Johnson described.

The Reserve Citizen Airman escorted the driver to her car and placed her in the passenger seat. As Johnson was about to leave the highway to get to a safe location, a crash was heard as two cars plowed into the back of the stalled car.

“As soon as I heard the hit, I told the woman to stay in my car,” Johnson described. “I jumped out of my car and ran back to check on the other drivers.”

And then a truck came. The two drivers who had hit the stalled car had gotten out of their cars to inspect the damage. When the truck came, it didn’t merge into the other lane where traffic was, it went towards the divide.

“I don’t think he had time to stop,” Johnson said.

The truck hit the two cars and struck the drivers who were out inspecting the damage.

“Literally, this all happened in less than a minute,” Johnson said. “I heard the initial crash, and by the time I got out to check, the truck had hit. Immediately, I started looking for people.”

She rushed to the first car, the air bag had gone off, the door was open, and there was no one to be seen. She went to the next one and the door was bent back the opposite way, and still no one.

“I thought, ‘Where are these people?’” she said.

She looked on the other side of the concrete divider, where oncoming traffic was, and there was a man standing in the middle of the highway. His pants were tattered and he was bleeding from his legs and face. He said he flew over the barrier when the truck hit him.

“My first thought was, ‘How are you alive? How are you conscious? How have you not been hit by another car?” Johnson said.
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Priest stabbed during mass...parishioners show no fear stopping attacker

Priest stabbed while leading Mass; suspect arrested after attack is caught on camera

WLKY
Ralph Ellis and Sarah Jorgensen, CNN
March 23, 2019

A man who allegedly stabbed the elderly rector of a church in Canada during a televised Mass as shocked parishioners watched will appear in court Saturday.

The attack happened as the priest of St. Joseph's Oratory at Mount Royal led Mass on Friday morning at the church in Montreal, Quebec, police said.

The suspect's name was not immediately released. He is expected to appear by video feed Saturday afternoon at the Quebec Court Criminal Room. If any charges are filed, they will be determined by prosecutors, Constable Caroline Chevrefils said.

Police said the stabbing was not considered a terrorist attack, and described it as "an isolated act committed by one individual."

Father Claude Grou, 77, was taken to a hospital and is recovering, Chevrefils said.

The 26-year-old suspect was detained by security staff at the church and taken into custody by police, Chevrefils said. She said the suspect is known to police.
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Airman killed while trying to stop robbery

Airman Shot and Killed While Trying to Stop Armed Robbery

Portland Press Herald, Maine
By Dennis Hoey
18 Mar 2019

A Westbrook native serving in the Air Force was shot and killed Friday night in Arkansas while trying to stop an armed robbery at a convenience store, authorities said.

North Little Rock police said Shawn Mckeough Jr. was killed while trying to stop a robbery at a Valero Big Red convenience store and gas station.

Shawn Mckeough Jr. Photo courtesy NewsCenter Maine

The 23-year-old Mckeough, who graduated from Westbrook High School in 2014, was a senior airman with the Air Force. Police said he was an on active duty and stationed at the Little Rock Air Force Base.

“As a result of the investigation, detectives have learned that two armed suspects entered the location in an attempt to rob the business. The victim in this incident attempted to stop the armed robbery and was fatally shot,” the police department said in a statement Sunday.

The shooting occurred around 11:30 p.m. Friday. Mckeough was pronounced dead at the scene. He apparently was a customer at the time of the robbery.

Sgt. Amy Cooper, spokesman for the North Little Rock Police Department, said in a telephone interview Sunday night that the two robbers – one of whom appears to be a man based on surveillance camera footage – remain at large. The police department is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to their capture.
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Hate denied by love defined at Christchurch

Time a time again, someone decides to act out of hate against people who have nothing to do with what is a boiling rage against them. 

Yet, time and time again, we see that one act followed by hundreds of acts based on love.

All too often, when something like this shatters the "normal" life experience, we ask "Where was God" but if you look, you can see Him everywhere.

You see him when someone else puts their own life on the line, sacrificing themselves to save another. You see it when, with every reason to fear another attack, people show up in case they can help someone else.

You see it when a Father saves his son from bullets, so he may live on. When police officers rush to help, not knowing if they will ever return to their own homes. Other first responders run toward the wounded, not knowing if they will be next to need rescuing.

When you go to the link, there is a video and a young woman, crying, says "This is not who we are. This will not define us." And it won't because in return for the one action of a person filled with hate, love responded.

New Zealand Attacks: Quick Action, Near Miss and Courage in Christchurch

The New York Times
By Damien Cave
March 17, 2019

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — Abdul Aziz was praying with his four sons in the Linwood Mosque when he heard the gunshots. Rather than run from the noise, he ran toward it, grabbed the first thing he could find — a credit card machine — and flung it at the attacker.

The man dropped a shotgun, and Mr. Aziz picked it up. “I pulled the trigger, and there was nothing,” he recalled. The gunman ran to his car, where he had other weapons, and Mr. Aziz followed, throwing the shotgun at the vehicle and shattering a window.

Mr. Aziz’s actions, which he and others described in interviews, may have prompted the gunman to speed away rather than return to kill more people. Minutes later, two police officers from another town who were in the area rammed the suspect’s car into a curb and took him into custody, ending the worst mass murder in New Zealand’s modern history.

But interviews with dozens of survivors, and an analysis of a video recorded by the attacker as well as one made of his arrest by a bystander, suggest that the violence ended after a near miss by the police at the first mosque — and acts of courage during and after the attack on the second.

If not for the two police officers, who have not been publicly identified, and Mr. Aziz, 48, a ponytailed furniture shop owner who fled Afghanistan a quarter-century ago, the slaughter might have continued. The suspect had two other guns in his car, the police said, as well as two homemade explosives
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Brother tried to save Disabled Vietnam Veteran trapped in burning home

Brother tried to run into burning home to save disabled Vietnam veteran’s life

Dayton Daily News
By Rick McCrabb, Staff Writer
March 13, 2019

MIDDLETOWN
When Don Howard was told Monday night his brother’s home caught fire, he quickly made the short drive to the home in the 900 block of Sixth Avenue.

He tried to run into the burning building — where flames were shooting 30 feet in the air — but was held back by Middletown police officers. When Howard saw the location and intensity of the flames, he knew his brother, James “Butch” Gann, 71, was trapped in the home because he needed assistance with his walker.

On Tuesday morning, with the smell of smoke still fresh in the air, Howard and Joshua Jones, Gann’s son, stood in the street and greeted numerous well-wishers who drove by the house.

Jones said he knocked down the front door trying to rescue his father, who was watching TV in a back room. But Jones was unable to reach his father. He can’t comprehend his father, an Army veteran who served during Vietnam, dying in a house fire.“I don’t believe he went that way,” Jones said. “It hurts real bad.”He said his father was a volunteer cook at the Louella Thompson “Feed The Hungry” program and coached for about 15 years in the Pee Wee Football program in Middletown. The players called him “Coach Butch,” his son said.
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New Jersey Navy Veteran took swim in Passaic to save woman

Car veers off NJ highway, plunges into Passaic River

WPIX News
March 5, 2019

NEW JERSEY — A Navy veteran sprang into action and rescued a woman after her car veered off a New Jersey highway on Monday and plunged into the cold water of the Passaic River.

Michael James, 37, was driving on Route 21 North around 9 a.m. when he saw what had happened. A 22-year-old woman's car hit the guardrail and went want it.

She managed to crawl out a back window and was perched on the car, but she couldn't swim.

" When the car went under, so did she," James said.

So he went into the frigid water after her.

"I just went, I didn't even think about it," he said.
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“Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge” saved over 200 from suicide

Guardian’ Officer Has Saved Over 200 People From Jumping Off the Golden Gate Bridge

Good News Network
By McKinley Corbley
Feb 18, 2019

“We talked for 92 minutes about everything that I was dealing with. My daughter, her first birthday was the next month. And you made me see that if nothing else, I need to live for her.”

It’s a police officer’s job to protect and serve – but Kevin Briggs never thought that his job would lead him to save over 200 people from committing suicide.

Briggs has been dubbed the “Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge” because of his awe-inspiring history of talking people down from the edge of the historic landmark.

The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the world’s most notorious spots for suicide attempts. Briggs, who is a California Highway Patrol officer, was first stationed on the bridge in 1994 – but he says that he had never been trained on how to handle suicidal people.

As he encountered more and more distraught individuals, however, he began to pick up more and more strategies on how he could talk to them efficiently. Whenever he successfully managed to coax someone off of the ledge, he would ask them about which parts of his approach were helpful and which ones weren’t.
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Stunning UPS Driver kept calm after carjacking and police chase

San Jose police shooting: Abducted UPS driver hailed for thwarting carjackers during chase

The Mercury News
By ROBERT SALONGA
PUBLISHED: February 15, 2019

Matthew O’Connor, a spokesman for UPS, declined to identify the driver or comment on his actions, but said the company was providing support for him and for other employees who work with him. “We’re giving our driver some privacy after yesterday’s incident, and we’re offering grief counseling to the driver and our other employees in the area,” he said.

SAN JOSE — A UPS driver abducted during a carjacking on Thursday is being lauded for having nerves of steel.

The armed carjackers seized his delivery truck and forced him to drive it, with law enforcement officers in pursuit. But he drove slowly so that the police could keep up and then, in an attempt to derail his captors’ escape, purposely hit the metal spikes officers had placed on the road.

“When you are accosted, taken at gunpoint, and made to drive, like something that comes out in the movies, you can’t train for the calmness that man had,” San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia said.
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Florida Air National Guard Airman saved driver from burning car

Florida Air National Guard Airman Awarded Airman's Medal

Department of Defense

Airman First Class Peejay Jack, a vehicle maintainer assigned to the 290th Joint Communications Support Squadron, Florida Air National Guard, was awarded the Airman's Medal by Major General Lenny Richoux, Commander, Joint Enabling Capabilities Command, during a ceremony on MacDill Air Force Base, Feb. 9, 2019. Airman Jack rescued a trapped motorist from his rapidly burning vehicle during a morning commute.

Seniors share Thanksgiving with Marines who saved them from fire

Seniors share Thanksgiving meal with Marines who saved them from fire

CBS News
Nikole Killion
November 22, 2018

Two months after running into a burning building to save elderly residents at the Arthur Capper Senior Public Housing complex in Washington, D.C., U.S. Marine Corps Captain Trey Gregory is coming to their aid again – with a Thanksgiving meal.

"These people have been through a traumatic event," said Capt. Gregory. "It is so sad right before the holidays but I'm just honored that we get to serve them again and give them food and put a smile on their face." There were plenty of smiles and hugs to go around as Gregory and several other Marines from the Washington Barracks dished out turkey, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, green beans and other traditional fare for dozens of residents and their families. 

"It is an honor and a blessing to see them serving us this way, you know, because we know they care," said D'Artois Davis who has been stuck at a hotel since the fire. "It's the holiday and you're used to your family coming around but there's no place for them to come and we've lost so much." read more here

Heroes of Borderline

What happened and the rest of the story at Borderline Bar and Grill

Already the headlines are leading with "veteran" "Marine" but is is also a story of heroes.

The following came from live updates on CNN

People lined the streets as a procession of officers escorted the body of a hero Sgt. Ron Helus, who died trying to save people.

Hundreds line up to donate blood in Thousand Oaks

There are currently over 200 people in line at La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks, waiting to donate blood to victims of last night’s mass shooting, according to school officials.

Thousand Oaks Mayor Andy Fox had pleaded earlier Thursday for blood donors to step forward.

The school had previously scheduled a blood drive on campus - but pivoted to gathering donations specific to this incident.

Donors are encouraged to make appointments at 877-25-VITAL.

Recent college grad killed in shooting "heroically saved lives"
From CNN's Amanda Watts and Hollie Silverman
Justin Meek, 23, was among the people killed in the Borderline Bar & Grill shooting in Thousand Oaks, California, according to California Lutheran University President Chris Kimball.
In a statement, Kimball said Meek was a recent graduate and "heroically saved lives in the incident."

Strangers were trying to save others and officers rushed with other first responders. All of them putting the lives of others ahead of their own.

The thing is, headlines make everyone focus on the shooter being a veteran, without ever once considering the rest of his story, or the simple fact that a veteran committing mass murder is very rare.

The thing is, he was a hero too, because he was willing to die to save others. The fact that he pulled out a gun and shot so many strangers should not be a reflection on other veterans. 

This kind of thing is very rare because they are more likely to harm themselves than anyone else.

This kind of a thing, this should be a reflection on all of us. If this is the outcome after putting his life on the line, and the outcome of so many others who perish after service, then all of us should be wondering what we did not do about any of it.

Marine saved baby, while upgrading his phone?

Marine saves choking baby at Liberty Station

10 News

Cassie Carlisle

October 15, 2018

"I did what I was trained to do I don't think I'm a hero more than anyone else would be," Lewellen said. He was thinking of his own two children while saving the baby. He has a 3-year old and a 3-week-old.

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A Marine was honored Monday at Camp Pendleton for his bravery mid-September when he saved a choking baby.

Private First Class Jonathan Lewellen was on leave after graduating boot camp before starting combat training. He was upgrading his phone at the Liberty Station Verizon store when he heard a mother screaming her son's name.

"She wasn’t hysterical but she was panicked," Verizon Store Manager Cecil Silva said. "He [Lewellen] looked and his instincts just kicked in, like he literally jumped over a desk we had, jumped over the railing, ran through the bushes and just attended to the baby."

Lewellen asked the mother if he could help, then performed CPR, and scooped mucus out of the baby's throat.
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