Local Man Nabs Carnegie Medal for Heroism

On a scorching hot day 13 months ago, as Mill Valley native Cameron Andersen and his girlfriend finished a grueling hike over Mt. Tam and down into Stinson Beach, he eyed the frigid Pacific Ocean and wished he'd brought his swim trunks.

"All I wanted to do was go swimming," he said.

Within minutes, he was ripping off his clothes and running in with a sense of urgency. But the 24-year-old Andersen wasn't cooling off. Instead, his heart raced as he swam out beyond the breakers to try and save a 16-year-old girl who had been pulled out to sea by a strong current.

His quick action on May 16, 2009, along with that of 51-year-old Corte Madera tutor Gregory Thomson, who followed him out to the girl, helped save her life. The pair garnered a Carnegie Medal from the Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission last week for their bravery. The commission hands out medals, which come with a $5,000 prize, to those "who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others."

"The award is not given to those who just save a life but to those who risk their lives in the process of saving a life," said Walter Rutkowski, executive director of the commission. "We are loosely based on the Bible verse that says, 'there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.'"

The man had done just that, fighting an incredibly strong current and keeping the girl afloat until lifeguards arrived with a paddleboard. The men hoisted the girl onto the paddleboard and then were helped to safety by another lifeguard.

"When I got there, she was definitely spent and she couldn't swim anymore," he said. "She was bobbing up and down in the water like a buoy or something."

By the time Andersen arrived onshore, the girl had been taken to a nearby hospital and treated overnight. She fully recovered, but Andersen never saw her again.

At the time of the incident, Anderson was working as a laborer for Redwood Engineering, an excavation company in Tiburon. But his dream has been to become a Marin County firefighter, and though he landed a firefighting job near Lake Shasta this year, the $5,000 Carnegie prize will help him complete his training and get him on track to realize his dream, he said.

"I'll spend a couple of bucks on fun, but the rest is going to go into savings so I can use for school," he said.

Andersen and Thomson were among 23 honorees, the second batch of medals doled out by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. Steel baron Andrew Carnegie started the fund in 1904 after hearing rescue stories from a coal mine disaster that killed 181 people in Harwick, Pa. More than $32 million has been awarded to 9,372 people since then.