Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller of Fridley, Minnesota, for going above and beyond with his courageous rescue of survivors of a bridge collapse. On August 1, 2007, Miller, a college senior, was part of a summer construction crew working on the 35W bridge in Minneapolis when on his way to work he watched in horror as the bridge buckled and collapsed. Ignoring his own safety, Miller climbed down into the wreckage to look for survivors. Trained in first aid, he helped four injured co-workers get to a place of safety before following cries for help from the riverbank. Rappelling down a cliff, Miller pulled eight people out of their smashed cars and the river that day and stayed long after the first respondents left, making repeat trips to look for more survivors. Later that night, an exhausted Miller helped load people onto Coast Guard boats and drove the injured to the hospital in a company truck that he had turned into a makeshift ambulance. Miller’s selfless actions that day resulted in more than ten lives being saved.




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