MISSOURI HERO: Jennifer Martin
On February 20, 2025, Jennifer Martin, a schoolteacher, was watching her son sledding in the family’s front yard when she observed a young neighbor walking on the iced-over pond across the street.
The boy then disappeared through the ice.
Martin had her son call 911 and ran to the edge of the pond. She then crawled across the ice to reach the child, who was struggling to stay above water.
Martin mustered the strength to pull the boy out of the water, helped him crawl back to land and then walked him home.
When the Willow Springs Fire Department and EMS arrived, they evaluated the boy for hypothermia, warmed him in an ambulance and monitored his condition.
As the sole witness to the child’s plight, only Martin could play the role of hero. And that is precisely what she did: immediately summoning the courage to risk her own safety to rescue a child in a dire emergency.
Nominations are now open for heroic acts performed during 2026 and must be received by February 28, 2027.
The nominating forms are available on the Missouri Department of Public Safety website at https://dps.mo.gov/medal/.
