Bravery Facts

Skydiver Debbie Williams was knocked unconscious in a midair collision over Arizona in 1987, and loadmaster Gregory Robertson dove after her, knowing he might fall too low to open his own parachute. He reached her in free fall, pulled her reserve ripcord and pushed her clear. Only then did he open his own, about 13 seconds from the ground, and both of them landed alive.

Austin Appelbee was 13 when his family's kayak flipped off Western Australia. His mother told him to swim for shore. He swam two hours with a life jacket. When it slowed him, he took it off. He swam two more hours without one. He reached shore and sprinted another mile to find a phone. His family was found 14 km out after 10 hours. Everyone survived.

In 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the frozen Potomac River in Washington. A rescue helicopter lowered a lifeline to the survivors clinging to the wreck. Passenger Arland Williams caught it and handed it to the stranger beside him. He did it again and again, each time to someone else. When the helicopter came back for him, he had slipped beneath the water. The bridge the plane struck now bears his name.

An unarmed Syrian-born fruit seller crouched behind a parked car, sprinted out, and tackled an attacker threatening 1,000 Jewish revellers at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach - taking two hits in the process. The Jewish community launched a GoFundMe that raised A$2.64 million for him. He reportedly asked the organisers: "Do I deserve it?"

Fousseynou Cisse was a school receptionist in Paris. He edged along a sixth-floor ledge 65 feet up as a neighbor's apartment burned. Through the window he passed six people to safety - two babies, two children, two mothers. On March 24, 2026, France made him a citizen at the Pantheon.

Eddie Hunnell was at his son's wedding rehearsal when Hurricane Helene knocked Leslie Worth's house into the river. Worth jumped from a window in a life jacket and was swept downstream at 8 mph. He tried a canoe but couldn't fight the current, so he jumped in himself. He grabbed her life vest and held on as they drifted 600 feet to calmer water. That night, Worth joined his family for the rehearsal dinner.