Ochsenbein was nominated for the award by the Putnam County Rescue Squad where he has continued to maintain an affiliation since 2007.
In February 2016, Sean Ochsenbein and his then fiancé were driving home from a ski vacation when they came upon a two-vehicle accident that had killed one person and trapped another in a burning vehicle. Ochsenbein and another passerby, off-duty North Carolina Deputy Lt. William Buchanan, worked feverishly to free the trapped man, first unsuccessfully by breaking the vehicle’s window glass but then by using a strap hooked to a bumper to pull open the car door. Just as the injured man was pulled free, the vehicle exploded into a ball of fire.
Ochsenbein, a member of Sons of The American Legion Squadron 81 in Gonzales, La., is the son of Mark Ochsenbein, a Legionnaire and volunteer director for Soldier’s Wish.
Ochsenbein’s quick thinking didn’t come by accident. He’s an Eagle Scout, an emergency medical technician and a member of the Putnam County Rescue Squad in Tennessee. At the time of the accident, he was about to graduate from medical school.
Over the past two years since the accident, Oschenbein has graduated from grad school, married his fiancé and is now completing his residency in emergency medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.
This past February, Ochsenbein and Buchanan were invited to the White House. President Trump presented them both with the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor, the highest award given by the United States to a public safety officer.
Recipients of the Medal of Valor must be nominated and undergo a background check by a review board within the U.S. Department of Justice. It is given for an act of valor above and beyond the call of duty and exhibiting exceptional courage, extraordinary decisiveness, and presence of mind and unusual swiftness of action, regardless of his or her personal safety, in an attempt to save or protect human life.
Ochsenbein was nominated for the award by the Putnam County Rescue Squad where he has continued to maintain an affiliation since 2007.
"Sean is one of the most incredible men you will ever meet, and we all know he didn’t think twice about going to work when he saw the crash," said Putnam County Rescue Squad Assistant Chief David Anderson to Fox 17 News in Nashville, Tenn.
In a ceremony held in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 20, 2018, Ochsenbein was one of 12 individuals presented with the Medal of Valor. Members of Ochsenbein’s family were in attendance.
"God puts people at the right place at the right time," Dr. Ochsenbein said.
- Sons