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CODY, Wyoming — A young man who saved his friend during a grizzly bear attack is being awarded with what is considered to be the highest honor for civilian heroism.
Kendell Bybee Cummings, 19, is one of 17 people named as Carnegie heroes by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.
Cummings was hiking with three of his friends in the Shoshone National Forest in Cody, Wyoming, in October 2022, when the bear attack happened. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission describes the incident as follows:
Almost immediately after friends Kendell Bybee Cummings, 19, and Brady R. Lowry, 21, discovered fresh bear scat, a grizzly bear came out of the nearby woods and attacked Lowry, striking him with its paws and knocking him to the ground. The bear bit his arm, fracturing the bone. Running from about 60 feet away Cummings, of Evanston, Wyoming, moved to a point about 20 feet behind the bear as it continued to attack Lowry.
Cummings shouted and threw rocks and sticks at the bear, but it did nothing to deter the animal from continuing its attack. Cummings then ran up behind the bear where he pulled on its ear and fur to disrupt its attack on Lowry. The bear swung its head around and pursued Cummings as he ran, while Lowry left the scene to get help. The estimated 450-pound grizzly bear then attacked Cummings twice, biting him numerous times in his arm, leg, and head, before it eventually walked away.
Lowry managed to get a cell phone signal and called 911 before meeting the two other friends. They searched for Cummings, eventually meeting him as he descended. They carried him part of the way as they walked to a road at the bottom of the mountain. Lowry and Cummings were taken to a hospital to be treated for their injuries. Lowry suffered a fractured arm and puncture wounds to his body. Cummings sustained puncture wounds to his arms, legs, head, and face. Both were scarred extensively and Lowry's wrist continued to heal.
Other honorees include a Utah woman who ascended slick sandstone to save a badly injured BASE jumper in Moab, a trained water rescuer who entered a capsized boat when other professional rescuers were unable, and a delivery driver who ran into a gunfight to drag a wounded police officer to safety in Texas.
The Carnegie Medal has been awarded to 10,422 people since the inception of the Pittsburgh-based Fund in 1904. Each of the recipients or their survivors receive a financial grant. You can read more about the other recipients here.
Throughout the 120 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, $45 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
Could you beat up a grizzly bear?
