Richard Fischer became the first honoree to receive the AGFC Enforcement Civilian Medal. Major Glenn Tucker said the medal is awarded “to an individual who has demonstrated courage, resourcefulness, and unselfishness, including high regard for others safety, alongside or in service to the AGFC Enforcement Division.”

Fischer was on Norfork Lake in north Arkansas in late November 2018, about to finish up his fishing for the day in his 2002 Ranger Cherokee, when he heard a thump and then a young girl screaming. He estimated Tuesday that he was about a quarter- to a half-mile from the problem: a man had fallen off a pontoon boat and his daughter was in the 45-degree water trying to rescue him. The pontoon boat was circling them. The man had been struck by the boat’s propeller.

“The first thing I did before heading to them was to call 911,” Fischer recalled. Fischer was able to get the girl out of the water, but the injuries the man had received forced Fischer to hold him along the side of the boat while driving them to shore, about 50 yards from the accident. By quickly calling 911, an emergency team of local firemen was already on-site when they reached the shore. The girl survived, but her father suffered severe injuries and did not. “The young girl was amazing, she was the real hero. Her father sunk probably three times but she wasn’t going to let him go. It was very traumatic. My whole goal was to get inside the circling pontoon and get them out of harm’s way.” Read the complete article HERE