River Barry, the woman who rescued a badly injured BASE jumper in November of 2022, was one of 17 Americans honored by the Carnegie Hero Fund for “saving others from peril.”
“All the men and women recognized today, in acts of extraordinary heroism, risked serious injury or death to save others. This is the Hero Fund’s first award announcement for 2024. Each individual will receive the Carnegie Medal for Heroism, North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism,” reads the statement from Carnegie Hero Fund.
Barry’s actions on Nov. 26, 2022, certainly met the criteria.
Here’s what Carnegie wrote about Barry: A 39-year-old BASE jumper hung by his parachute 70 feet above the ground on Nov. 26, 2022, in Moab, Utah. He had jumped from the top of the 400-foot cliff, but his parachute deployed in the wrong direction, slammed him into the cliff face, and then got caught on an outcropping, leaving him badly injured and dangling.
Thirty-year-old River Barry, who was in the area to go mountain biking, was flagged down by the man’s friend asking if anyone had climbing gear. Barry, a mental health therapist of Millcreek, Utah, went to the scene and used her own climbing gear and recreational experience to ascend a crack that ran up the side of the cliff directly below the injured man. No one had climbed the crack before and locals referred to the sandstone on the cliff as “slick rock” for its slippery conditions.
With the help of the man’s friend belaying her from the ground, Barry climbed to a point above the man and clipped her harness to his. She cut away his parachute and descended to the ground, bearing the man’s weight, to waiting rescuers. The man suffered a compound fracture of his leg and underwent extensive physical therapy. Barry was not injured.
Here’s the link to the story we published in May: www.moabtimes.com/articles/barry-recounts-her-heroic-efforts-to-save-base-jumper/
Others to receive the medal include a trained water rescuer who entered a capsized boat when other professional rescuers were unable; a delivery driver who ran into a gunfight to drag a wounded police officer to safety in Texas; a college wrestler who pulled a grizzly bear off his friend only to be attacked himself; a woman who put herself between another woman and four attacking pit bulls; and a man who rammed his tractor into a burning home to rescue an unconscious woman inside.
About the Carnegie Medal
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, the Carnegie Medal has been awarded to 10,422 individuals since the inception of the Pittsburgh-based fund in 1904.
Those in public safety vocations must go beyond their line of duty to be considered. Relevant training or specialized skills on the part of the rescuer are considered against the requirement of extraordinary risk.
Each of the recipients or their survivors will receive a financial grant. Throughout the 120 years since the fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, $45 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
This story was first published by The Times-Independent.