Madeline “Amy” Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery (2005)

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in which at least 206 people with ties to Massachusetts perished. The first flights to be hijacked took off from Boston Logan International Airport. Madeline “Amy” Sweeney, a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, displayed extraordinary cool under extreme pressure during the hijacking. The Massachusetts 9/11 Fund Blog is profiling the Sweeney Award recipients for the past quarter century every week leading up to the naming of the 2026 Honoree(s) at the 25th Anniversary Commemoration on September 11th.

Three heroes honored for rescues from suicide attempt and plane crash

George Kouloheras, 92, and Robert Michalczyk, 42, both of Lowell, MA., observed a man climbing over a bridge railing, intending to jump into the swiftly moving Concord River below.

Approaching slowly, George from behind and Robert from the front, they managed to grab the man and wrestle him from the bridge's edge. Robert pinned the man by the shoulders on the ground as George tried to calm him.

The man struggled, so George had to sit on him, the Boston Herald reported. "I was talking to him and I was saying, 'Ah take it easy, life is worth it,'" George said.

A police officer told The Lowell Sun he found George telling the man, "You don't want to do that. You don't want to do that."

“Hopefully by preventing him from committing the suicide, he can stop and say, 'Well, maybe life isn't that bad,'" George said, according to UPI. "Maybe he can make 92 like me."

On May 27, 2005, Timothy Paquette, 34, of Auburn, MA, was on his way to umpire a high school softball game when he witnessed a plane crash following takeoff from Fitchburg Municipal Airport. Timothy, an associate court officer, stopped his car and ran to the plane. Spilled fuel was evident when Timothy arrived, with flames reaching five feet.

Timothy reached inside and grasped one man whose legs were pinned. After pulling repeatedly on the man, Timothy freed him and dragged him to a point of safety. He then returned to the plane, the interior of which had begun to burn. Timothy again reaching inside to grasp the other man, who was covered with fuel. He pulled the second man from the plane and also took him to safety just before the plane was consumed by flames. Both men were treated for significant injuries at the hospital.

Next Week: Neighbors rescue worker knocked unconscious by blast in Plum Island home