WASHINGTON — Outgoing President Biden will award the Medal of Valor on Friday to two FDNY heroes who saved New Yorkers from a raging fire.
Mr. Biden, 82, is expected to present Lt. John Vanderster and firefighter Brendan Gaffney with the nation's top public safety officer award.
Vanderster knocked on the door of a Bronx fire station in October 2022 to alert a neighbor of a fire in the street, and to hear the voices of a woman and child trapped in a fifth-floor apartment. When we arrived, we sprang into action.
“Wearing full protective gear and a self-contained breathing apparatus, Vanderster ducked under fire and shot down the hallway into a back bedroom where he discovered an adult woman and a child,” said co-worker Stephen Elliott. The lieutenant told the Post at the time.
The man carried the child down the stairs, while two colleagues carried the woman.
“if [the mother and child] “If he had been in that apartment for another minute or two, he probably wouldn't have survived,” Elliott said. “What a wonderful rescue.”
Gaffney similarly risked his life in February 2023 by rushing into a burning apartment to save an unconscious pregnant woman and her child.
“He first shielded the child with his body and took the child to safety. Mr. Gaffney ran through the fire again and rescued the woman. He performed CPR on the woman while waiting for paramedics. Both the woman and child survived,” the White House said in a press release announcing the award.
The evening's medal ceremony will also honor five Nashville police officers who responded to the 2023 Covenant school shooting, as well as a sergeant from the Lincoln, Nebraska, Police Department. Thu Tran rescued a woman trapped in her car from a frigid pond.
Biden also gave posthumous tributes to six Army soldiers: Private First Class Bruno R. Orig, Private First Class Wataru Nakamura, Corporal Fred B. McGee, Private First Class Charles R. Johnson, retired Gen. Richard E. Cavazos, and Capt. Hugh R. He will be awarded the Medal of Honor. nelson jr.
Kenneth J. David, Army Specialist 4th Class, will also receive the high honor.
