The Red Cross honored 11 Central Georgian heroes on Friday morning at the 3rd Annual Hometown Heroes Breakfast at Macon State College.
Each year people from the community nominate folks in one of the 11 categories for acts of courage or giving to others.
This year's winners are:
Dr. Lori Ugolik for Animal Advocate Hero for her work with animals on a local, national, and international level;
Jim and Jami Gaudet for the Community Impact Hero for their baseball camp that they ran for the past 25 years;
Danielle Moore Truelove for the Emergency Response Hero for her work as a 911 Communications Officer; Jared Nelson for the Good Samaritan Hero for saving a woman trapped in a burning car;
Nancy Littlefield for the Guardian Angel Hero for her work as a school Para pro;
Deputy Brannon Jules Grace for Law Enforcement Hero for preventing a man from jumping off the I-75 bridge;
Hunter O'Neal, Adahy Bruschetta, and Greyson Bargeron for Paving the Way Youth Heroes;
Kody Lucas, was honored posthumously with the Hero for the American Red Cross.
and Corporal Michael Bo Guinn for Military Hero for his heroic efforts in Afghanistan;
We talked to Military Hero Corporal Guinn of Warner Robins about how his squad was attacked with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades and he stepped in when his fellow Marines were in trouble.
"We were ambushed by the Taliban," said Guinn. "Two of my team members were pinned down behind a brick wall and I crossed a water-filled canal to provide suppression fire on the enemy, so they can make movement to safe cover."
But he said he doesn't think of his efforts as heroic, but just something that he had to do for his Marine brothers.
"There is no way I could leave my friends hanging," said Guinn. "My brothers out there, it just there's no way."
Guinn said he was humbled by the honor from the Red Cross, but he thinks the real heroes are those in his 2nd Platoon.
"I can say that I saw them everyday and I am not a hero," said Guinn. "But I was in the company of heroes."
Each honoree was seated at a different table. Before they received their award, a video presentation played describing each person's heroic efforts.