Her Majesty honors the members of all active Military, Reserve Members, Police, Professional and Volunteer Firefighters, Emergency Medical Technicians and Members of Veteran Organizations and their immediate families with a $15.00 admission price at the Front Gate with valid Service ID.
Nominate A Hero
Immediate family members can nominate individuals to be considered for special recognition on Heroes of the Realm Weekend, September 11 & 12, 2010. Individuals should be nominated for personal sacrifice, significant impact on others’ lives, loss of life in the call of duty or other acts of heroism by those in service.
Six individuals will be selected by Faire staff, three on Saturday and three on Sunday of Heroes of the Realm Weekend. The selected individuals will receive:
Congratulations to our winners!
Richard Jackson submitted by Susan Folk
Mr. Jackson has been working with the Federal Government since 1977. Soon to retire, he has given his personal time and life to seek out individuals that have threatened or acted out unlawfully on government properties, agencies and personnel. These are the people behind the scenes that prevent and stop terrorist activities in their work. He will retire as a Homeland Security Agent with 25yrs of service with the Federal Govt. His agencies may not give him the full honor of his selfless service however, knowing Richie for the last seven years, the dedication and commitment he has made to keep all of us sleeping soundly at night and protecting our homeland with disregard to his rest and relaxation is unprecedented. This man deserves to be knighted! There is no single heroic act to be mentioned here. He has constantly been on guard for our safety! He spent tireless hours investigating at ground zero among many of his other investigations. He and the like all deserve recognition, as they are the hidden heroes that most Americans are unaware of. I vote he represent the agents that no one even knows are keeping us safe!
Dr. Russell Carr submitted by Elizabeth Carr
Russ Carr is a Navy career psychiatrist. He has deployed to Iraq where he supported our troops by helping them to bear the emotional burdens of war, family separation, and the related fall out. All the while doing so in a location that was at times mortared. He now has a leadership position in a traumatic Brain injury/PTDS treatment facility at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. We are very proud of him and very glad he is back here in one piece. We love him very much and think he is a great father as well.
Gregory Straub submitted by Art Straub
My son Greg started his basic training in the Army Military Police Corps right after his high school graduation in May of 2002. He volunteered for overseas deployment immediately after completing his training and found himself in Korea in December of that year. He voluntarily extended that deployment twice.
As an MP, Greg's role was different from that of the frontline infantryman. His job was the protection of Americans - military and civilian - in a country still technically in a state of war. He did a good job and was promoted to sergeant only about two and a half years after entering the Army. As an experienced manager I was impressed at Greg's natural approach to leadership. He understood that he had to take care of his team if he expected them to perform for him.
Unfortunately, Greg suffered an injury while on duty and incomplete treatment of the injury left him unable to meet the standard of walking five miles with a thirty pound pack on his back. In July, 2005 the Army decided it didn't want him anymore and shipped him back to Walter Reed Hospital for out processing which took 10 months. This was the peak of the troubled times for Walter Reed and Greg could have laid back and waited for things to happen. He didn't. First he took an active part in helping to solve residence problems for other soldiers passing the hospital. He was also proactive in getting his own life back on track.
As soon as his discharge was complete he joined the civilian security force at Walter Reed and continued working in support of the men and women serving - or who had served - their country. Over the next year Greg worked on his own informal physical therapy process and by September 2007 had improved enough to qualify for and join the Police Department of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs. He is assigned to the VA Hospital in Washington, DC.
He takes seriously the organization's motto, "To Protect Those Who Served." Like most sworn police officers, Greg's work is a mixture of mundane activities and emergency - often life-threatening - responses. And he still puts his life on the line. He is periodically responsible for policing a free standing VA clinic in a violent neighborhood of DC. But the main hospital itself poses its own set of risks.
Police officers are often called to intervene when a confused patient becomes violent, and such intervention frequently involves open wounds and flying blood. Of course, in a hospital one can expect exposure to infectious agents including HIV, hepatitis, and drug-resistant bacteria. Greg's life and health are at risk every day. And he accepts the risk as he willing provides service for his fellow veterans.
There are many other ways Greg has made me proud, but the ones I've mentioned, I believe, qualify him as a Hero of the Realm.
Daniel Druck submitted by Elizabeth Leventhal
I’m writing about my boyfriend Dan. He has been an EMT for over 14 years. He’s helped a lot of people and saved many lives along the way. Every time he's thanked or shown gratitude he just says “I didn’t do anything,”..or “it’s not a big deal.” He brushes it off. I think he deserves a lot more than that. He’s an excellent EMT and he needs to be shown how much what he does is appreciated. In my eyes and his children’s eyes he is the biggest hero I’ve ever known. He's a loving man to me and a loving father to his kids and to my daughter. He puts himself before others on a daily basis. During "Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society" he volunteered his services and helped. Again he just said "no problem." I want to prove to him that what he does for others is appreciated. His two sons look up to him and what he does. He is a true hero in so many lives that he’s touched over the years and he deserves to know it. He's a special human being and I'd like everyone to know it. Especially the one person who doesn’t think so, my hero and his children’s hero, Daniel Druck EMT.
Jeff Garner submitted by Claudia Garner
My husband is my hero. At age 11, Jeff lost his father to a brain tumor. At such an impressionable age, he was faced with a choice of becoming a “man” and beginning his journey to adult life to make his father proud or succumbing to the pain and depression. Jeff decided he needed a hobby to get him focused and be strong, and he chose the fire department.
Beginning as a volunteer junior firefighter, he took every training class that he possibly could and at the same time strengthened his heart. He and his family soon relocated to the Camp Hill, PA area, and Jeff found a new firehouse to further his experience and training. Throughout the next 10 years he would work through the fire service up to Assistant Chief, never thinking twice about helping someone in their time of need.
In 2006, with a wife and 11 month old son at home, Jeff proudly accepted a career firefighter/EMT position with Loudoun County Fire Rescue, Virginia. This would require that Jeff be away from his new family for 7 months to attend their fire academy. During those 7 months, Loudoun County trained dedicated men/women in every aspect of the fire/EMS world. The fire training academy is very stressful, challenging, and physically demanding on the recruits. I’m sure Jeff would admit it was hard to press on at times, but knowing how proud and supportive his family is, he was able to successfully graduate.
Jeff loves his being a firefighter, both volunteer with Union Fire Company (PA) and career with Loudoun County Fire Rescue (VA). He is exactly the person I would want coming to rescue me if I were in need of a hero. He always puts himself last and the lives of those he’s protecting and serving with first. I know if it meant someone’s life would be saved, be that of a victim and/or a co-firefighter, my husband would make the sacrificial choice of saving them. For that I get fearful at times, however this fear is way overpowered by the amount of pride I have of being his wife. Our son, now 3 years old, knows the dangers that Daddy faces with the job he has, but he knows how much Daddy loves him and is proud to say, “That’s my Daddy.”
He’s the one who is always first to rush into a burning building when everyone else is rushing out (a house fire not far from our house), to climb into an overturned vehicle (a crash that happened near our development), to render aid to an accident victim (a crash on the interstate in which a man was ejected and fell 30’ from the front of our vehicle). All of which I have personally witnessed, and I’m sure there are stories that I haven’t heard about yet. He’s my husband, the father of my son, my best friend, and my hero, Jeff Garner.
