A Seattle man is one of the latest recipients of the Carnegie Medal — North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism — for saving a boy in 2021 in Green Lake.
The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission’s fourth award announcement this year recognizes 18 civilians in the U.S. and Canada who risked serious injury or death to save others, according to the commission.
The Seattle recipient, Benjamin Ramsay, 24, saved a teenage boy in Green Lake on April 21, 2021, the commission said. The boy was swimming in the lake when he submerged about 80 feet from the shore and did not resurface. Ramsay, who was on a paddleboard nearby, dived 15 feet to the bottom to find the unconscious boy, despite no visibility underwater and Ramsay’s own poor swimming ability.
With his paddleboard no longer in reach, Ramsay swam toward the shore with the boy against his chest. Another paddleboarder nearby helped Ramsay and the boy reach shallower water. The boy recovered at a hospital, according to the fund.
This quarter’s recipients also include a father who died attempting to save his son from a burning home and a husband who died trying to save his wife struggling to stay afloat in the Long Island Sound, the commission said.
