Hero dad honored posthumously

A Morgan County father was posthumously honored with the Carnegie Medal April 4 in a ceremony held at the Morgan County Public Safety Complex.

Thomas Hawk, 39, was one of 18 heroes so honored last year by the medal, which was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1904 to recognize outstanding acts of selfless heroism.

Thomas Hawk lost his life Dec. 16, 2022, after rushing into his Bostwick home in a valiant effort to save his son who was trapped in a bedroom with fire erupting all about him.

Hawk, 39, was found in the home’s main hallway after firefighters put out the fire.

According to Chief Jeff Stone of Morgan County Fire and Rescue, Thomas Hawk was at the house next door putting up a bed for his grandfather when he received a phone call from his 12-year-old son Eric who told him there was smoke in the house.

Hawk raced back to the home with his father Tommy Hawk following him. The elder Hawk said he saw Thomas Hawk go around to the front of the house and disappear into the carport area.

Tommy Hawk passed by the window of the bedroom occupied by Eric Hawk and saw the boy banging on the window. He then broke out the window and tore out the air conditioning unit, so he could pull Eric out of the burning house.

After Eric was out, Tommy Hawk attempted to go inside via the door in the carport area, but the intense heat and flames nearly knocked him to the ground, according to the account he gave to Stone.

Stone said it appears that Thomas Hawk succumbed to smoke and superheated gases that had filled up the home as the fire spread rapidly through the 58-year-old structure. Stone said Thomas Hawk had sustained burns to his hands and face as he scrambled through the smoke and flames in his effort to rescue his boy.

Thomas Hawk’s wife Amanda and daughter McKenzie, a student at Morgan County High School, were in Jefferson Christmas shopping at the time of the fire.

Eric was later taken to the Hospital Burn Center in Augusta where he was placed into an induced coma to treat smoke inhalation.

Hawk left behind his loving wife, Amanda Slaton Hawk; 18-year-old daughter, Mackenzie Jewel Hawk; 14-year-old son, Eric Thomas Hawk; parents, Sherry and Thomas Hawk, Jr.; grandfather, Thomas Clifford Hawk, Sr.; nieces and nephews, Kenneth Hawk, Abigail Merritt, Erica and Sam Bowden, Haley Lazenby, and Madison Lazenby.

“We live in a heroic age,” Andrew Carnegie wrote in the opening lines of the Commission’s founding Deed of Trust in 1904, according to the carnegiehero. org website. “Not seldom are we thrilled by deeds of heroism where men or women are injured or lose their lives in attempting to preserve or rescue their fellows.”

The mission of the Hero Fund as set forth by Carnegie is unchanged over more than a century, despite massive upheaval in the social and world order. It remains as testament both to his foresight and to essentially unchanging human nature.

The Commission’s working definition of a hero as well as its requirements for awarding remain largely those that were approved by the founder. The candidate for an award must be a civilian who voluntarily risks death or serious physical injury to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the life of another person.

About 20 percent of the medals are awarded posthumously.

According to the website, Carnegie was inspired to create the hero award following 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.

“I do not expect to stimulate or create heroism by this Fund,” Carnegie wrote, “knowing well that heroic action is impulsive. But I do believe that, if the hero is injured in his bold attempt to serve or save his fellows, he and those dependent upon him should not suffer pecuniarily.”

Each medal contains 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. More than $40 million has been given to more than 10,000 awardees or their survivors over the life of the Fund.

Rescue acts brought to the Commission’s attention are carefully evaluated, and those that appear to have award potential are then investigated and reported to the Commission for decision.

At the conclusion of the ceremonies, Amanda Hawk announced that the Thomas Hawk Memorial Scholarship has been created to benefit students at Morgan County High School in order to continue Thomas Hawk’s legacy of helping others.

Morgan County Fire Chief Garret Smith emceed the ceremony and former Chief Jeff Stone – who was the chief when the fire occurred – attended the ceremony along with several first responders who were at the scene.