The Robert P. Connelly
Medal

The story behind the medal

Robert P. Connelly, 34, a member of the Kiwanis Club of Lisle, Illinois, lost his life September 23, 1966, in an attempt to rescue a disabled woman who had fallen in the path of an on-rushing passenger train.

The act of heroism took place during the annual Kids' Day Peanut Sale. The club had assigned a number of its members to the railroad station because Lisle is a suburban community of Chicago where commuter traffic is heavy.

Suddenly, a young woman with artificial legs lost her balance and fell to the tracks directly in front of an approaching train. Robert, who was selling the peanuts on the station platform, rushed to the aid of the stricken woman. Before he could pull the woman from the tracks, the train was upon them, and both were killed.

Kiwanis memorialized
Robert P. Connelly's heroism

The first Robert P. Connelly Medal of Heroism was awarded posthumously to Robert P. Connelly at the 52nd Annual Kiwanis International Convention in Houston, Texas (1967) with this statement—“By his unselfish action he put tremendous and dramatic meaning into the phrase ‘personal involvement,’ which is so much a part of Kiwanis philosophy. This man was the epitome of all that Kiwanis strives to be.”

The Kiwanis International Board of Trustees established the Robert P. Connelly Medal "for service beyond the call of duty."

The Medal

Recipients receive a bronze medal displaying Robert P. Connelly’s likeness, mounted on a walnut board with the inscription “for service beyond the call of duty.” The recipient’s name is engraved on a medal plate. Connelly recipients may receive a financial award along with the medal.

The medal is to honor those who risk death or physical harm when "they might just as well have passed along the way." There are more than 500 Robert P. Connelly Medal recipients. A complete list of medal recipients is maintained at the Kiwanis International Foundation office in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The choice to grant a medal is the responsibility of the Kiwanis International Foundation Board of Trustees. The Board has complete latitude in the selection of recipients in a concerted effort to maintain the award’s integral meaning. The Board’s decision is final.

The Kiwanis club is notified immediately if its Connelly candidate is selected and sent a special five-minute video explaining the award for use during the presentation. The International Foundation Board asks that the medal be given at a special club meeting or at a district function. It is recommended that a member or past member of the International Board, the International Foundation Board, or your district governor present the award.

Nominees must:

Be nominated by a Kiwanis club.
Face actual risk of death or physical harm by accepting self-imposed personal responsibility in the effort to save the life of another.
Have no official responsibility for the person rescued.
Perform the act of heroism in a non-official capacity (exception: a military person on leave voluntarily risks his or her life or health to save a person from harm).
Not be closely related to the person rescued.
Be nominated within five years of the incident.
Nominees do not have to be a Kiwanis member.

The Medal of Valor

The nomination of an individual(s) for the Robert P. Connelly Medal, who in the opinion of the Kiwanis International Foundation Board of Trustees does not meet any or all of the requirements for the medal, will be considered for the Medal of Valor. The decision of the Board is final.

All nominees, who do not qualify for either the Connelly or the Valor medal, receive certificates of courage sent to the nominating clubs by the Kiwanis International Foundation.

During the
Missouri-Arkansas District
Mid-Year conference 2007
In Branson Missouri

The widows of Jack Logan and Bert Alexander were presented with the Robert P. Connelly Medal.

Jack Logan and Bert Alexander, two Conway men that had just completed a week of missionary work in Nicaragua, drowned in a boating accident on Lake Nicaragua, April 3, 2006.

Logan and Alexander had stayed behind for a few days of fishing after other members of their missionary team returned home. They were part of a 10-memeber fishing group whose boat capsized on the 100-mile-long and 45-mile wide Lake Nicaragua. As the 10 people tried to hold onto a boat being pulled downward by an anchor, two members were not able to stay afloat and drowned while the other 8 attempted to hold onto the tip of the boat, the only part that remained above water.

At this time, two of the younger men decided they would swim to get help. They grabbed a cooler that was floating by and while using it to stay afloat, they began to swim to a volcanic island that they could see in the distance. The boys immediately began to have trouble. Realizing they were best swimers of the group, the Conway men took an oar from the boat and swam out to save the two boys from the rough water.

They slipped the oar through the handles of the cooler and then Jack and Bert got on each end of the oar with the boys still holding onto the cooler, and began swimming and pushing toward the island. The four of them floated holding onto the cooler throughout the night and into the next day. It became apparent to Logan and Alexander that the cooler was not going to be able to support the four people and get them to safety. These two men gave personal messages to the younger men to take to their families, and then pushed off the cooler and sacrificed their own lives to save the lives of the young men.

Logan and Alexander told the boys, "you need to live, we're older and you need to live." The two boys told their rescuers that the men saved their lives, for they would not have made it except for the sacrifice made by Jack Logan and Bert Alexander.