Fantastic 4 heroes win state medals
OLYMPIA – Awarding the state’s Medal of Valor for the first time, Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature on Monday honored four heroes who risked their lives to save others.
Jim Swett of Sedro Woolley, Greg Meinhold of Everett, and Travis Jackson and Dennis Kinsey of Clark County all qualified for the medal, established in 1999.
“These four citizens, emblematic of ‘do unto others,’ have set a new bar for citizen heroism in our state,” Gregoire told a joint session. “They have renewed our faith that in the heat of the moment, citizens will step up.”
Swett, a trucker, was returning from a delivery in 2004 when he encountered a crash on Interstate 5 near Smokey Point. A southbound truck had crossed the median and collided with two northbound vehicles. After smashing a window out of a Suburban and pulling a woman to safety, Swett, 68 at the time, attached a tow rope to his truck and pulled the SUV away from the burning wreck. He then pried open a door with a crowbar and rescued two children from the back seat. The children had red hair, reminding Swett of his 15-year-old grandson, who had died in a rollover accident four years earlier.
In 2001, Meinhold was driving along Silver Lake in Everett when he noticed a man flailing in the middle of the lake. The former Boy Scout drove to a nearby restaurant to grab a display canoe. Needing an oar, Meinhold burst into the restaurant’s kitchen and grabbed the most appropriate object – a cookie sheet.
Using his cumbersome metal paddle, Meinhold managed save the drowning man as well as the man’s dog.
Jackson and Kinsey came together in January 2005 to save a man trapped in a burning Jeep off Route 500 in Orchards, near Vancouver. After calling for help, Jackson used a fire extinguisher, then pried open the car door with his hands. Kinsey helped pull the man from the vehicle and then cared for the driver until emergency crews arrived.
Firefighters said the driver would have died had Jackson and Kinsey not rescued him from the smoke-filled Jeep.
“All these citizens went above and beyond to demonstrate a willingness to pay the ultimate price to save a fellow citizen,” Gregoire said. “They were the faces in the crowd that did more than just stare.”
Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, proposed the Medal of Valor in a bill that passed seven years ago. Nominees are considered by a committee comprised of the governor, chief justice, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House and secretary of state.
Until now, no nominees won the committee’s approval. The award cannot be given to government-hired emergency personnel.
“These are just everyday people,” said Secretary of State Sam Reed. “They had no obligation to do this. They simply, out of the goodness of their hearts, risked their lives to save someone else.”