Senior Airman Nicholas Semonelle of the 435th Logistics Readiness Squadron, based at Ramstein, received the Air Force's top non-combat medal last month for saving two children from a burning house. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — If not for dad, Nicholas Semonelle would likely remain a quiet hero today.
Instead, the Air Force awarded him the highest non-combat medal, the Airman’s Medal, last month to add to a collection of accolades that includes the Vanguard Medal and 13 coins.
Semonelle, a 26-year-old senior airman with the 435th Logistics Readiness Squadron, saved two children from a burning house while on leave in his hometown Elba, Ala., two years ago. But he kept his heroics mostly to himself, until his dad — an Air Force major stationed in Alabama — recommended him for the medal.
The accolades have been a pleasant surprise for Semonelle, who had never even heard of the Airman’s Medal before his dad recommended him for it, he said. But thoughts still nag about a third child who died in the house fire, he said.
In January 2003, Semonelle and his brother- in-law, John Courson, noticed smoke coming from a house across the street from his sister’s home in Elba. Outside, a 14-year-old boy was crying and shaking with fear.
“Three kids are still inside,” Semonelle recalls the boy telling them. “I can’t get them out.”
The boy directed Semonelle and Courson to the back of the house, where a 3-year-old girl was crying inside. Courson threw a brick through a back window and boosted Semonelle through it.
Covering his face with a wet shirt, Semonelle made his way through the black smoke to a voice that cried, “I’m over here, I’m over here.” He touched an arm and carried the girl to safety.
The 14-year-old boy outside then told the men that another boy was in a room near the front of the house. Courson went in the front door first, but the smoke overwhelmed him before he could reach the boy. Semonelle made his way toward the 7-year-old boy, who was yelling, “Help me,” and grabbed him by the arm.
The flames coming from a back room grew larger, and the boy froze. Semonelle dragged him out to safety.
The 14-year-old boy outside then told Semonelle and Courson that a baby remained inside in a crib. They each made one attempt to find the baby before the flames spread throughout the house.
They never heard crying.
“I think of what could I have done for it to have been different,” Semonelle said. “How could I have done a better job? I keep saying, ‘Well, there’s nothing else that I could have done because the fire got too bad.’”
By the time firefighters arrived, the house was bursting with flames. The 18-month-old baby was found dead in her crib.
Semonelle said he did not purposely keep the incident quiet from his superiors at work.
“I didn’t think it was anything important to tell them,” he said.
