Only 10 Days Left to Nominate Your Hometown Hero
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) January 01, 2014 -- The Congressional Medal of Honor Society is calling on all Americans to nominate their personal hometown heroes for the 2013 Citizen Honors awards. But you’ll have to be quick about it – the cut-off date is January 10!
“Every day in this country, ordinary Americans become extraordinary,” says Tom Wilkerson, president and CEO of The Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation, which supports the Society. “It can happen in a single instance of bravery, or through a lifetime of service to others. These heroes symbolize the spirit of America, and the Medal of Honor recipients want to find them and recognize them in the same way that they were recognized.”
Barney Barnum, 73, is one of only 77 surviving recipients of the Medal of Honor, America’s highest award for wartime acts of valor. He was honored for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty during a 1965 gun battle in Vietnam. He assumed command of his rifle company after his commanding officer was killed and then successfully led their attack on enemy positions. In 2008 he and the other Society members voted to create this civilian equivalent of their award.
“This is a chance to honor Americans who have gone above and beyond in the civilian world, whether it’s fire, police, or just ordinary individuals who, in a crisis situation, do the right thing at the right time for the right reasons,” says Barney, who helps bestow Citizen Honors medals each year. “People like this are what makes America great so we’ve got to stop and honor them and think about them. They have stepped forward and made us proud.”
The Citizen Honors celebrate three hometown heroes each year from a pool of candidates nominated by friends, coworkers, families and communities. The Society is looking for candidates from every state in the U.S., and they can be nominated online at http://cmohfoundation.org/.
The honorees will be brought to Washington for the awards ceremony on National Medal of Honor Day, March 25th, named by Congress after the first presentation of the award to six Union Army volunteers back in 1863.
In 2012 the Citizen Honors awards were expanded to include Rachel D’Avino, Dawn Hochsprung, Anne Marie Murphy, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach and Victoria Soto, the six Sandy Hook Elementary School staff members who sacrificed their lives protecting students in the December 2011 school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. But the awards also celebrate living heroes like Brandon Wemhoff, 31, who in 2011 tackled an armed and masked robber at a Nebraska pharmacy and held him down until police arrived.
“To be given a compliment like this is a wonderful thing,” Brandon says of his award. “It has helped me to feel like I’m succeeding at life, and at a young age. But it also makes me more aware of making sure that I’m continuing to do the right thing – that I’m treating people the way I’d like them to treat me and my family.”
Even so, Brandon says, he doesn’t tell too many people about his award.
“I’ll talk about it if it comes up in conversation but I won’t bring it up,” he says. “Now, my Mom, she thinks it’s the best thing in the world and she tells everybody. So anytime I go home I have to go through the story a million times. But you know how moms are, they get proud.”
To learn more about the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s Citizen Honors program, nominating a candidate, or interviewing past recipients, please contact Margaret Rankin at The Webster Group at margaret(at)webstergroupinc(dot)com, by phone at 202-237-0090 or by cell at 720-232-8842.
Kristin Holland, The Webster Group, +1 202-741-1275, [email protected]
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