Heroism Awards presented to Carson City Scouts Jeremiah Beauford and Eli Thomas
Submitted by editor on Sun, 04/19/2015 - 9:39am
Nevada Boy Scouts celebrated the awarding of not one but two Heroism Awards at Carson City Troop 341’s Court of Honor recently at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Carson City. Dozens of Scouts, Scouters and parents applauded Jeremiah Beauford and Eli Thomas as each young man received the Life Saving Award as each Scout had saved the life of his younger brother. On hand to make the special presentation was Nevada Area Council President Jeff Whitaker.
“We have two very special awards for these two young men,” he said as he explained in the 111-year history of the Boy Scouts of America, only 11,000 of these Heroism Awards have been handed out while approximately 96 million boys have gone through the Scouting program.
“That may seem to be a lot, but it’s over 111 years. We’re presenting the award for Heroism – that is when someone saves a life. This is a very special award.”
Whitaker told Beauford and Thomas that each was receiving a knot to wear on their uniform that was similar to ones worn by adults. Theirs is distinctive as it has a red border. “There’s also an award you can wear on your uniform when you’re a Scoutmaster some day.”
To drive home the point of how important each life is, Whitaker told a quick story on the significance of each life.
“You’re familiar with the movie ‘It’s A Wonderful Life,’ filmed in 1946. It’s an old black and white that’s shown around Christmas about George Bailey, the main character in the movie. He’s had a really bad week and he decides he’s going to jump in the river … the world would have been better off if he’d never been born. The movie goes through his whole life and how a whole town was affected by George Bailey. So any time you can save a life, you literally change the world.” Each young man also received a framed certificate amid huge applause.
Scoutmaster Jeremy Anthony echoed Whitaker’s praise and said, “This was a big deal” to the other Scouts. “What these guys did was very similar for both of them. Jeremiah jumped into the river to save his brother. He was 4 or 5 years old and Jeremiah jumped into the river to pull him out. With Eli, it was kind of the same thing. His little brother got into a pool and was on the bottom, and Eli jumped in after him.
“One of the coolest things,” Anthony continued, “was right before this happened with Eli, we had Life Saving Training Day and we did rescue and swimming techniques. Shortly after that is when Eli jumped in. It drives home that the little things we do make a big impact on these boys. Training passes on the good techniques that follow Boy Scouts all the way … you can’t do enough.”
Also at the Court of Honor, Ethan Byassee was recognized as being the newest Eagle Scout in the nation on that day. It was announced that Troop 341 had gained two new patrols and there was the addition of 13 new Scouts. The Troop has swelled to 42 Scouts, up from 29.
Under Rank Advancements, new Scouts are Zavian Bell, Clark Burns, Ben Kahue, Anthony Loyola, Michael McDonald, Christian Service, Ryan Soulier, Isaiah Werlinger, and Tyler Williams. Daniel Nellis is now First Class. Eli Thomas now is Star, and Jake Carroll is Life.
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