(ABC4) – Three Utahns have been awarded the Carnegie Medal from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism and risking one’s life to help another.
The Utahns to earn the award are Norman Tanner Olsen from Salt Lake City, Lyle Berglund from Roy, and Bradley Jay Berglund from Syracuse.
Brothers Lyle Berglund and Bradley Jay Berglund suffered second-degree burns after pulling two men from a burning plane that crashed in Centerville in June 2020. The two contractors witnessed the plane crash, ran to the scene, and pulled the plane’s occupants from the wreckage despite intense heat from flames and smoke.
The plane occupants later passed away from their injuries.
The Davis County Sheriff’s Office congratulated the brothers for their acts of heroism on social media.
“Congratulations to Brad and Lyle Berglund for being two of the 18 individuals to receive North America’s highest civilian heroism honor from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission: the Carnegie Medal. Recipients are awarded because they risked their lives for others in peril. We, Centerville Police Department, and many others remain forever grateful for Lyle and Brad’s quick and selfless life-saving actions,” the post states.
Olsen, a 23-year-old college student from Holladay, is being given the award for saving a man from burning in September 2019.
After witnessing a 59-year-old man catch fire while trying to start a campfire, Olsen immediately ran to the man, who was fully aflame, and attempted to smother the flames by grabbing him in a bear hug and pulling him to the ground.
Olsen continued to use his body to smother the flames as others poured water on the man’s clothes. Both Olsen and the man he saved were taken to the hospital for severe burns. Olsen is still recovering from the burns.
18 people received the medal in 2021 for acts of heroism.
