HOUMA, La. (AP) — A Houma man who died trying to save three children from drowning off Grand Isle has been honored with a prestigious award for heroism.
Terrell Miller, Sr., 33, is among 17 people honored with the Carnegie Medal.
The Carnegie Hero Fund, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit, gives the award annually to recognize people from the U.S. and Canada who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.
Despite not knowing how to swim, Miller, a marine industrial tank cleaner, entered the Gulf of Mexico after three children were pulled away from shore into deeper water on June 5, 2020.
“The mother of two of the children entered the water as well and briefly grasped the youngest child, but they were separated,” the Hero Fund’s description of the incident says.
Miller reached the 13-year-old girl and towed her 25 feet back to shore before they became separated.
Miller later went underwater.
“Other bystanders and first responders pulled Miller from the water and then rescued the mother and three children,” the description says. “The mother and the 13-year-old girl were treated by paramedics. The 8- and 9-year-old boys could not be revived, and Miller died two days later of medical complications related to near-drowning.”
He is among five of the latest Carnegie Medal recipients who died trying to save children from drowning.
With the announcement on Dec. 20, 10,273 Carnegie Medals have been awarded since the fund was established in 1904 by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie,
Carnegie Hero Fund Commission Chairman Mark Laskow said each recipient or his or her survivors will also receive a financial grant. Since the program started, more than $43 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits and continuing assistance.
Learn more about the program at carnegiehero.org.
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