Jeremy Pecoul Resuces Grandfather Awarded the Medal of Courage Jeremy Pecoul is presented the Medal of Courage in a special service in his honor on January 22, 2001. Jeremy Pecoul was awarded the Medal of Courage on Sunday, January 22, 2001 at Cannan Assembly of God. Commander David Welford conducted the ceremony during the morning services. Several Royal Ranger leaders were on hand to celebrate the occasion including Divisional Commander, Kelvin Dykes, who made some comments, and Bruce Pepper, who sang a special song. District Commander, Wesley Harmon, was also present and made the official presentation of the Medal of Courage to Jeremy. Pastor Rodney Coleman was very gracious and also had some words of encouragement for Jeremy. He read letters from the National Royal Rangers Commander, Richard Marriott, Jim Seargoves, Regional Coordinator and others. Section 12 Area Commander, David Welford, wrote the following account after interviews with both Mr. Harold Carter and Jeremy Pecoul. David, along with several other commanders, nominated Jeremy Pecoul for the Medal of Courage. Jeremy demonstrated exceptional courage after a fishing accident involving Mr. Harold Carter, Jeremy's grandfather. He is a Trailblazer at Outpost 113, Cannan Assembly of God in Escatawpa, MS. On April 2, 1999 Jeremy Pecoul and his grandfather, Mr. Harold Carter, set out on a fishing trip for speckled trout in the Pascagoula River. This Good Friday would change the lives of both Jeremy and Mr. Carter forever. Jeremy would rely on God, his training and courage to rescue his grandfather following a fishing accident. Mr. Harold Carter, was hit in the face and blinded by a large fishing sinker. Jeremy took charge of the situation, started the boat engine, assisted his grandfather, who was bleeding badly, and made his way back to help through a veritable maze of river and bayou. At the time of this incident, Jeremy was 12 years old. "We had made plans to go do some fishing for speckled trout at our favorite spot at the mouth of the Pascagoula River on the Friday morning before Easter," said Harold Carter as he recounted the day. "Just a short walk from our house down to the boat, a 15 footer with a 50 horse-power engine, on the bayou behind our house let us get an early start to what looked to be a beautiful day of fishing. Jeremy was raring to go. He doesn't have to be rousted out of bed on any morning we plan to go fishing." Mr. Carter continues, "Jeremy lives with his grandmother and me. We have tried to give him as much of the type instruction a young boy should have and deserves. We have him in church every Sunday that my physical condition allows. Every Wednesday night, even if he has to catch a ride, he is at Royal Rangers. We hunt and fish when possible and he's taught about life as an outdoorsman. On some of these trips I had shown Jeremy how to start the boat engine and especially how to steer the boat on some of our twisting bayou's. He learns easily and is able to overcome most problems with almost no help. This small amount of training I was able to give him, along with the Ranger ethic of keeping a cool head and never giving up, saved my life on this trip." "We loaded up the boat with rods and reels, bait and all the stuff you need for speckled trout fishing and headed out. The bayou out to the river is not too bad; it's about 12 feet wide, but takes careful attention to keep from running into something. [It] Takes about 10 minutes out to the Pascagoula River from our house in Moss Point and a winding five mile run down river to our fishing spot close to Ingall's Shipbuilding. We had made this run several times, but, I had no idea Jeremy could get back home thru this maze by himself. Thank God he was paying attention all the times we made this trip before." "Arriving at our speckled trout spot and taking care to position our boat out of traffic, we placed a fore and aft anchor to hold us steady in the strong currants in the area. Our fishing outfits were rigged with the usual speckled trout set-up, large sinker to allow fishing in strong currant and strong test line that would hold up to all the steel, large stones and trash that is present in this area. After fishing a short while I attempted a cast that caused the line on my reel to backlash. The backlash caused the big sinker to dart down from the tip of my rod and hit me in the right eye with such force that it knocked my eye completely out. The shock to the optic nerve was so great I couldn't even see out of the eye that hadn't been hit. I also knew I was bleeding badly; blood was all over me in just a short time. I couldn't do or see anything. Temporarily stunned by the shock, I covered my face with my hands and tried to keep calm for Jeremy's sake. Knowing we couldn't summon help from where we were, all I could do was fall back and tell Jeremy; 'Son, you've got to get me home.'" Jeremy takes up the story, "When I saw Pawpaw [Mr. Carter] had been hurt and what had happened, I was really scared. He told me; 'Son, you've got to get me home.' After securing the fishing gear and making his grandfather as comfortable as possible, he pulled the anchor up the anchors. The first anchor came up easy but the second one was stuck in the mud or debris. With all the strength he could muster, Jeremy was finally able to pull up the stuck anchor and start the motor. "Lord, please let me remember how to start the motor and let it work right, was all I could think," said Jeremy. "The motor started right away, thank God it hadn't flooded!" "Heading up river toward home, I looked at Pawpaw and he was bleeding pretty bad. Running all the possibilities through my mind about where to take him to get help took some time, but, I figured home was the best place to go to get help the quickest. You see, my grandmother is a nurse and help would be right there. If I got other help, they would have had to call an ambulance and that might have taken too much time. Mostly, all I can remember about the trip home was being scared and trying to remember how to make all the right turns to get there. I didn't run the boat too fast, because Pawpaw had told me before it was better to take a little while to get where I was going and get there in one piece. It was OK until we got into our bayou, then I had to slow down and be real careful about everything." "When we got to our dock, I tied up the boat and got Pawpaw out and called my grandmother out of the house to help us. Then, she decided not to wait on an ambulance and loaded Pawpaw up and took him to the hospital. That's when I really got scared, thinking about what happened and what could have happened. I guess I did what the Royal Rangers taught us to do and that is: Keep a cool head and never give up." In the accident, Mr. Carter lost his right eye, but regained sight in the left. Jeremy gives all the praise to the Lord for helping him through the ordeal. Thanks to the time Mr. Carter had spent teaching his grandson and the lessons he learned in Royal Rangers, he was able to make the right decisions and keep a level head. "I don't know that I did anything special," explained Jeremy. "While all this was going on, I was really scared. I just knew I had to keep a cool head for Pawpaw and once I was able to do that; something told me everything was gonna be alright. Thank the Lord I was able to help. I think He was with me that day when Pawpaw and I needed help the most." Mr. Harold Carter said, "There is no doubt in my mind that my grandson's help and quick thinking saved my life. It is doubtful that had I been by myself on this trip help would have been present in time to save my life as I was in no shape to signal anyone from where we were that I had been hurt and surely could not have gone for help myself. [Back to Top of Page]