Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/103

After a thorough investigation of the case, the fall meeting of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission awarded the Rev. Rudolph James Hodik a Carnegie Medal in recognition of his heroism in the saving of the lives of two drowning girls at Peshtigo, Wis., three years ago. The Carnegie Commission also offered an additional cash award to the young clergyman but he refused to accept it with the statement that it should be appropriated for educational purposes as the commission deemed fit.

The Rev. Fr. R. J. Hodik.

Rev. R. J. Hodik, who was born in Stangelville, Wis., of Czechoslovak parents, is an alumnus of St. Procopius College and a former instructor at the same institution. He studied at St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., and was ordained in May, 1924.

Father Hodik distinguished himself in Peshtigo on the 14th of June, 1924, when he braved death to save two girls from drowning. There is a swimming pool where the Trout Creek enters the Peshtigo River. Lucille Prue waded a little too far and was suddenly carried into deep water by a swift current and began to drown. Verna Mae Gallinger attempted to save her but after futile attempts both sank to the bottom into ten feet of water about seventy feet from shore. The frantic cries of the drowning girls brought many to the scene among whom was Father Hodik. He came running to the bank and the others told him where the girls had gone down for the third time. Without a moment’s deliberation he plunged into the water and swam to the place. At the bottom of the swimming hole one of the girls caught hold of the young priest’s leg while he grasped the other by the arm and then used his left arm and leg to swim to the shore about seventy feet. He sank with them several times and when getting near the shore was on the point of succumbing. But after another desperate struggle he