Flower Mound Man Honored for Heroism

A Flower Mound man's being honored today with a medal from the Carnegie Heroes Fund.

James Callahan saved five children in a parked van that began rolling toward a six-lane highway last year in Watauga.

Below is the write-up on the Carnegie Hero website:

James Callahan saved five children from a runaway van, Watauga, Texas, June 16, 2009. Five children, ranging in age from 2 to 10, were secured to their seats in a minivan that was parked and left running in front of a store. The vehicle began to roll backward toward a busy, six-lane highway. Callahan, 48, car dealer, was in the store and saw the minivan moving backward. He immediately ran from the store and approached the driver's side of the vehicle. He opened the driver's door and placed his right leg and foot inside the minivan to apply the brake, but he became caught by the front left tire of the vehicle and was taken to the pavement and dragged as the minivan turned away from the highway. The minivan ran over Callahan's left leg and arm, narrowly missing his head, before it stopped. The children were not injured. Callahan was hospitalized for treatment, including surgery, of a fracture to his left leg and cuts and abrasions.

Callahan is among 19 winners of the Carnegie medals for heroism, they'll be honored Thursday.

Steel baron Andrew Carnegie was inspired to start the fund in 1904 after hearing rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people. More than $32.7 million has been awarded to 9,391 people. Medalists, or their heirs, receive $6,000.

The Medal features Carnegie on the front and a verse from the New Testament around the outer edge: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) along with a place for the name of the recipient to be engraved.