CLEVELAND ― The U.S. Coast Guard is scheduled to formally recognize a Wilmot, S.D., woman for her actions during the 2009 Red River Floods, during a ceremony at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Saturday.
During the ceremony, Rear Adm. Michael Parks, commander of the 9th Coast Guard District, will present Josie Green with the Coast Guard Silver Lifesaving Medal for her actions while attempting to rescue a man who fell into the Red River.
While jogging along the bike path on the Moorehead side of the Red River on Nov. 20, 2009, Green, then a student at Minnesota State University Moorehead, heard two men calling for help on the riverbank and saw Lucas Littleghost being pulled by the river’s current. Green was told by the two men that neither could swim and that the man in the water had fallen from a nearby railroad bridge. Green entered the freezing water and swam to the then-unconscious Littleghost.
Once on shore, Littleghost was transferred to waiting emergency medical technicians and transported to a Fargo hospital. Unfortunately, Littleghost died a few days later.
The Silver Lifesaving Medal, as well as the higher Gold Lifesaving Medal, may be awarded to any person who rescues, or attempts to rescue, another person from drowning, shipwreck, or other peril of the water.
