General K.L. Berry Award Winners

27, 2021, on the west side of Fort Worth, TX, there was a major three-car vehicle collision on Interstate 820, which resulted in one of the vehicles catching fire with passengers still inside. It was a drill weekend for the 136th Airlift Wing, and Technical Sergeant Jerry Schmidt had completed a day of training and was getting dinner by his hotel.

While standing outside, he heard the collision and quickly ran to the accident, being the first person on the scene. Realizing that one of the vehicles was on fire with passengers inside, he ran to the vehicle, cut the dazed driver’s seatbelt, and pulled him to safety. He fought through the smoke and returned to the burning vehicle to rescue an unresponsive passenger, where he had to break the window to pry the passenger door open. He then cut the seatbelt of the unresponsive passenger and pulled her to safety, sustaining cuts to his hands and receiving shards of glass in his arms. Sergeant Schmidt then returned to the other vehicle involved in the collision, which was right next to the flames and in danger of catching on fire, where he had to break another window and cut another seatbelt to pull the unconscious driver to safety. At that time, another responder had arrived on the scene, so he and Sergeant Schmidt began administering Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on the unconscious person, resulting in the injured person regaining consciousness.

Sergeant Schmidt stayed on scene, performing first aid to the three injured persons until the police and fire department arrived, just before the tires began exploding on the burning vehicle. He then returned to this hotel, where he cleaned glass out of his hands and arms, scrubbed the blood from his pants, and washed the soot from his face. Sergeant Schmidt’s quick, decisive, and skilled actions ensured those three people were safely and quickly removed from a dangerous scene, averting a disastrous outcome.

Technical Sergeant Jerry Schmidt is a member of the 136th Airlift Wing, 136th Civil Engineer Squadron, Texas Air National Guard, located in Fort Worth, Texas. Previously, he served for ten years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, which included numerous tours supporting Operation Desert Storm and Operation Northern Watch. He deployed in 2017 in support of Operation Inherent Resolve and in 2020 in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. He has maintained a distinguished civilian career as a Trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety. His selfless and heroic actions, in which he disregarded his personal safety to save the life of another, brings great credit upon himself and the Texas Air National Guard, and warrants the General James K.L. Berry Award. H ON JULY 24, 2019 AT 12:40 A.M., a black SUV was speeding down Ross Avenue, when he reached a dead end at Houston Street at the West End area of Dallas, Texas. Rather than stop, officers said the driver continued straight ahead, striking a brick column and breaking the front window of an architecture firm. The crash caused the vehicle to catch on fire while the driver was still inside. SPC Matthew Oldham was working security at his civilian job with the Dallas Holocaust Museum when he heard the crash and rushed out to see what had happened.

When SPC Oldham arrived, the vehicle was on fire and the driver was pinned inside of the vehicle. SPC Oldham said two Dallas police bicycle officers arrived and broke the car window with a baton in order to reach the driver. SPC Oldham then with the assistant of one of the bicycle officers helped pull the driver out of the burning vehicle. The driver was folded up underneath the steering column and was not wearing his seat belt. The fire from the vehicle was intense and it was hard to see thru all the smoke. Once the driver had been pulled back far enough from the scene, SPC Oldham began to access the driver’s injuries. The driver had sustained two broken arms, a gash to his head and was bleeding profusely from a gash on his leg and had a partially amputated right foot. He also had a partially crushed chest, though his airway remained intact. SPC Oldham quickly applied a tourniquet to the man’s leg to stop the heavy bleeding and provided other first aid to help stabilize the man’s condition until paramedics arrived.

Without this lifesaving measure the man probably would have bled out without a tourniquet on his leg before emergency medical assistance arrived. Dallas police said the driver was taken to the hospital to be treated for his multiple injuries and would be booked into jail upon his release on a charge of driving while intoxicated.

SPC Matthew Oldham is a member of Co C 3-144th Infantry Regiment located in Seagoville, Texas. SPC Oldham deployed from 2017-2018 to the Horn of Africa with his National Guard unit. While in Africa, he participated in airbase defense, patrols and general theater security. But he didn’t encounter anything during the nine-month deployment like he did on July 24, 2019 in Dallas, Texas. His heroic actions and willingness to risk his life to save another brings great credit upon himself and the Texas Army National Guard and warrants the General James K.L. Berry Award. H