USO honors Airman at gala event
by Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
10/15/2004 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- The United Service Organizations honored an Airman from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, at the 2004 USO Gala here Oct. 14 for his unhesitating courage in saving the lives of two children.
Seeing smoke coming from a house and learning that children were trapped inside, Senior Airman Nicholas Semonelle, from the 435th Logistics Readiness Squadron, entered the burning structure and began a systematic search to try to find the children. He rescued one child and, without hesitation and regard for his own personal safety, risked his life to go back inside the house, now ablaze and filled with smoke, to locate and rescue the second child.
Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Marine Gen. Peter Pace, Joint Chiefs vice chairman; top officers and enlisted people from each of the services; and numerous entertainment celebrities saluted Airman Semonelle and the other heroes honored at the event.
General Myers said the five servicemember heroes represent all the people in the armed forces. "And I would submit that they're all heroes," he said.
Edward Powell, USO president, presented the 2004 Service Hero of the Year awards to Airman Semonelle, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Alan Dementer, Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Laurence Nettles, Army Sgt. Christopher David Holbrook and Marine Sgt. Nicanor Galvan.
In a letter to the USO, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld recognized the nonprofit organization as a link between the American people and the nation's fighting forces for more than 60 years.
He said the USO has opened centers in Qatar and Kuwait and will soon open another in Afghanistan. The newest center will be dedicated to former National Football League star Pat Tillman, who left professional football to join the Army Rangers and was killed in action in Afghanistan.
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