Since 2008, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, the official association of all Medal of Honor recipients, has bestowed annual citizen awards for both acts of heroism and service. The Single Act of Heroism Award is akin to the Medal of Honor and is often awarded posthumously.

My friend and fellow Tennessean, Molly Hudgens, is a prior recipient of the Single Act of Heroism Award. She placed her life in imminent peril when, as a middle school counselor, she confronted an armed student who intended to murder other students. Molly kept him in conversation for 90 minutes as he held his weapon on her, and ultimately she was able to convince him not to commit this act. She credits her strong faith and training for this successful intervention.

At its 2026 meeting, the MoH Society presented two recipients with posthumous Single Act of Heroism Awards. The award recipients were chosen for demonstrating the core values associated with the Medal of Honor: courage and sacrifice, risking one’s life for others, above and beyond the call of duty.

The first recipient was Anderson “Chase” Childers, a former Major League Baseball player and Cobb County, Georgia, police officer from Dallas, Georgia.

On 13 July 2025, Chase was visiting Pawleys Island in South Carolina when he heard the screams of multiple people who were caught 150 feet from shore in a rip current. Rather than swimming left or right parallel to the shore to escape the current, the family group was attempting to swim directly toward the beach against it.

Swimming against these currents is often lethal. On average, almost 100 people die in riptides each year attempting to swim back to the shore, which is why they are called “killer currents.” Almost 80% of lifeguard rescues involve people caught in riptides.

Chase, a devoted husband and father of three, did not hesitate to rescue those five family members, getting them to shore one at a time. Returning to rescue the sixth victim, exhausted from the previous rescues, Chase himself drowned. His body was recovered offshore by the Coast Guard later in the day.

In making the presentation, the MoH Society noted, “His selfless and courageous actions saved lives and stand as a powerful example of service above self and heroism in its purest form.”

The second Single Act of Heroism Award recipient was John “Johnny” Wactor, a native of Summerville, South Carolina. He was an actor known for his roles in series and films, including “USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage.”

After graduating from the College of Charleston, he moved to Los Angeles. It was there in the early morning hours of 25 May 2024 that he was murdered attempting to protect a woman from three armed gang members. He died in her arms.

Two of the assailants, members of a South Central Los Angeles street gang, were later arrested and charged with his murder. They are now on trial.

In making the presentation, the MoH Society noted: “Johnny instinctively placed himself between danger and another person, shielding her with his own body. His courageous act saved her life and reflects his lifelong commitment to protecting others, even at the cost of his own. His final act was one of extraordinary courage. In laying down his life to protect another, Johnny embodied the highest ideals of sacrifice and selflessness. His actions that day reflect great credit upon himself, his family, and his home state of South Carolina.”

Chase Childers and Johnny Wactor were ordinary men faced with extraordinary circumstances, and they summoned the greatest measure of courage to place their lives in imminent peril to save others. Their examples of heroism are eternal. Live your life worthy of their sacrifice.

“Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

(Read more Profiles of Valor here.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

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