Service above self

Palm Coast Observer
Neighbors

The following is from a news release

Colonel Jack D. Howell II, United States Marine Corps (Ret.) has been recognized by the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation in Washington, D.C., as a 2016 finalist in the Citizen Honors program.

(http://www.cmohfoundation.org/#!honorees/c10wz).

Howell was nominated for his work with his Teens-In-Flight program for the past 10 years. He is the program’s founder and CEO. Since the program’s inception in 2006, more than 100 teens have participated and all staff members are volunteers. All funding raised goes directly towards aircraft maintenance and flight lessons.

“I am incredibly humbled to be nominated for this special award,” Howell said. “It is an extraordinary honor to be in the company of my fellow nominees, all of whom are dedicated to their cause and who are being recognized for their own hard work and commitment to serving others.”

Each year, a nationwide search is organized by the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation and three United States citizens are chosen to receive the Citizen Honors awards. The honorees receive this award from a group of Americans whose actions have defined the word courage – the living members of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. These brave men have received the Medal of Honor for their acts of valor performed during wartime.

To be considered for this rare civilian honor, nominees must have made a difference in the lives of others through a singular act of extraordinary heroism, or through their continued commitment to putting others first. The criteria for selection is focused on the actions being honored epitomizing the concept of "service above self," and must be performed "above and beyond" one's professional or vocational area of responsibility or conduct.