A hero among us
RALPH BARTHOLDT/Press Coeur d’Alene attorney Kinzo Mihara and University of Idaho student Matthew Suhr were among the first people to arrive at a helicopter crash site south of Rathdrum on June 23, 2020.
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A Hauser man will receive North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism for his actions following a helicopter crash last year.
The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced Wednesday that 18 people from throughout the United States and Canada will receive the Carnegie Medal for risking their lives trying to save others.
Among them is Kinzo Heath Mihara of Hauser.
Mihara said Wednesday, he had mixed emotions about the award.
He said he was honored and humbled, but at the same time, it brought back memories of a tragic accident.
“My thoughts and prayers certainly go out to all the families, the victims, involved,” he said.
Mihara and North Idaho College student Matthew Suhr were the first on the scene of a June 23, 2020, helicopter crash in a field along Highway 41 south of Rathdrum.
Jay Schrank, 42, Rathdrum, and Jim Charbonneau, 78, Spokane were both transported to Harborview Medical Center after taking an ambulance around 5:30 p.m. to Kootenai Health from the crash site near Highway 41 and Wyoming Avenue.
Charbonneau died three days later. Schrank was hospitalized and continues to recover.
According to a Coeur d'Alene Press report published June 25, 2020, Suhr and Mihara, a lawyer, were traveling in opposite directions on Highway 41 when they saw a helicopter flying too low westward over the highway, almost clipping power lines before crashing into a nearby field.
Both men stopped their cars and ran toward the wreckage.
Both Mihara and Suhr told The Press two days later they saw Schrank exit the helicopter and walk around as if in a daze, to try opening the door where Charbonneau sat. Schrank’s clothing was on fire and Suhr ordered him to hit the dirt and roll while Mihara yanked open the door and pulled Charbonneau out.
From behind Charbonneau, a wall of heat and flames boiled into the field, singeing Mihara’s face and arms.
"Taking off his outer shirt and using it to cover his hands and forearms, he reached in again and grasped the man by his shirt, pulling him from the cockpit to safety," a press release from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission said of Mihara.
Both Mihara and Suhr suffered extensive burns and were taken to the hospital.
Mihara was disappointed that Suhr was not recognized, too.
“I certainly think his actions were above and beyond,” he said. “If only one could be selected, I’d be happy to trade places with that young man.”
Mihara deflected credit for the award.
"I would trade this medal in a second to bring those boys back,” he added. "I just hope one day somebody would be there for me if I was in a tight spot."
With this first announcement of 2021 recipients, a total of 10,220 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 117 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, more than $42 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.