Service before self.Last December, Airman Joshua Johnson Not to be confused with Joshua J. Johnson. Joshua Johnson (c.1763–1832) was the first African American painter to make his living by painting. Biography Johnston was apparently self trained in his art. , who is stationed at Kessler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi “Biloxi” redirects here. For other uses, see Biloxi (disambiguation). Biloxi ([bəˈlʌksi]) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the U.S.. , visited his hometown home·town n. The town or city of one's birth, rearing, or main residence. Noun 1. hometown - the town (or city) where you grew up or where you have your principal residence; "he never went back to his hometown again" of Kellyville, Oklahoma Kellyville is a town in Creek County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 906 at the 2000 census. Geography Kellyville is located at (35.942771, -96.219497)GR1. , during Christmas leave. While there the 18-year-old airman went to Tulsa to visit his girlfriend, Brittany Campbell. His intention was to propose to Miss Campbell on a bridge over the Arkansas River Arkansas River River, rising in central Colorado, U.S. At 1,450 mi (2,333 km) long, it flows east through southern Kansas and southeast across northeastern Oklahoma and bisects Arkansas, where it empties into the Mississippi River. . Soon after the couple became engaged, the momentous occasion suddenly took on new meaning. "We went back to the car and just as we were getting ready to drive off, out the corner of my eye, I can see a car drive off into the river," Johnson said, in an interview with WLOX news in Biloxi. The car was driven by a woman named Detura Bills, who had her two-year-old son, Brandon, with her. Johnson jumped into the icy river while his fiancee remained behind, worried that the man she loved was risking his life. She recalled thinking that Johnson might die. Miss Campbell told WLOX what happened when Johnson reached the partially submerged car: "He was banging on there to tell them to open the door and the lady got out and was screaming about her baby." Johnson rescued the woman during his first dive, but it took three attempts before he finally reached Brandon. "The car was almost underwater, so I swam in there to try to get the baby out of the baby seat," he related. "I don't really know what made me do it, nothing really," Johnson told the Mississippi Press. "It's just instinct and part of the way I was raised and partly from the military." Johnson, who was treated at a hospital for hypothermia hypothermia Abnormally low body temperature, with slowing of physiological activity. It is artificially induced (usually with ice baths) for certain surgical procedures and cancer treatments. after the rescue, credited a principle he was taught in the Air Force--"service before self"--with preparing him to risk his life to save the mother and son. Major General Dennis Larsen said of Johnson: "It's been said that a hero is no braver than any other man, he's just braver five minutes longer.... If you think about those core values and that day in Oklahoma, it took integrity to go down to that riverbank and jump in." On March 10, Larsen awarded Johnson the Airman's Medal The Airman’s Medal is a military decoration of the United States Air Force and is awarded to those service members who distinguish themselves by heroic actions, usually at the voluntary risk of life, but not involving actual combat. . |
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