Town Of Weymouth: Mayor Hedlund To Present Weymouth Resident, Jean-Paul LaPierre, With The Carnegie Hero Medal

Press release from the Town of Weymouth:

October 29, 2021 - 11:23am

The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission and the Town of Weymouth are proud to recognize and present the Carnegie Hero Medal to Weymouth resident, Jean-Paul LaPierre, on November 3, 2021 at the Town Hall in Weymouth. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission awards the CARNEGIE MEDAL to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.

The single event that stimulated Andrew Carnegie to organize the Fund was the Harwick mine disaster near Pittsburgh in January 1904, which claimed 181 lives. The victims included an engineer and a miner who went    into the stricken mine in a valiant attempt to rescue others. The tragedy and the sacrifices so moved Mr. Carnegie that he promptly took action on his then-novel idea of honoring and helping "heroes of civilization."

The Commission's Deed of Trust established a $5 million fund to recognize persons "in peaceful vocations" who act to "preserve or rescue their fellows." Mr. Carnegie specified that each hero to be recognized, or the next of kin, was to receive a medal, reciting the heroic deed it commemorated and carrying the Biblical    quotation: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). The Commission was empowered to make monetary grants, as well. Given to the heroes or the next of kin in cases of death, the grants include continuing support, scholarship assistance, and death benefits

The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others. With this announcement, a total of l 0,256 Carnegie Medals have been awarded since the Pittsburgh-based Fund's inception in 1904. Commission Chair Mark Laskow said each of  the awardees or their survivors will also receive a financial grant. Throughout the more than 117 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, more than $43 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.

This year the Carnegie Hero Commission happens to have 5 medal awardees from New England out of the 18 announced in September. Commission president, Eric Zahren, is planning a trip to present the medals personally to those awardees and Mayor Robert Hedlund will host and participate in the presentation of the medal to Weymouth resident Jean-Paul LaPierre.

At 5:40 a.m. before the October 13, 2019 Chicago Marathon, a man armed with a loaded handgun was robbing passengers on a crowded train headed for downtown. A passenger at the back of that train car, 54-year-old Jean-Paul LaPierre, a storage facility manager from Weymouth, Massachusetts, saw the assailant approaching passengers nearer to the front of the car, but couldn't immediately tell that it was a robbery. When the train stopped at the next station, nearly all the passengers disembarked. Following them, LaPierre asked what was happening. A fellow passenger told him about the gunman. LaPierre quickly followed the gunman, who was briskly walking to the next car in the train. Once aboard the second car, LaPierre pinned the gunman against a set of closed doors and pried the gun away from him. Another passenger took the gun from LaPierre and reset the safety on it. LaPierre secured the assailant until police arrived to arrest him. No passengers were injured, except for LaPierre who injured his arm in the encounter.

On October 30, 2019 Mayor Hedlund recognized LaPierre’s heroic deed with a proclamation and on November 3, 2021 he joins Commission president, Eric Zahren, in Weymouth to present Mr. Lapierre with the Carnegie Hero Commission Medal in Weymouth “I am honored to take part in presenting the Carnegie Hero Medal to one of Weymouth’s own. Mr. LaPierre displayed unrivaled bravery in the face of danger to save his fellow passengers and we are extremely proud of and humbled by his actions.” Hedlund commented.

This press release was produced by the Town of Weymouth. The views expressed here are the author’s own.