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Wales native Jillian Smith receives 2024 Mass 9/11 Fund’s
Madeline Amy Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery
Young mother ran into burning building twice to save elderly neighbors’ lives
BOSTON, MA, SEPTEMBER 11, 2024 – In a ceremony commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll presented the Madeline “Amy” Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery to Jillian Smith of Wales, MA, for running into a burning house twice to save her elderly neighbors’ lives last December.
This annual award honors civilians who demonstrate exceptional bravery, without regard for personal safety, to save the life of another in actual, imminent danger.
On the morning of December 18, 2023, the Wales Police Department responded to a call of a fire at 88 Stafford-Holland Road in Wales. The town was without power caused by severe weather that led to several downed trees and wires.
Jillian Smith, a 26-year-old mother of a baby girl and a Wales native, was alerted by her mother that the neighbors’ house was on fire. She put her baby down for a nap and without hesitation ran next door. She saw her neighbor, Andre Bouchard, coming out of the burning house and attempting to go back inside to find his wife, Madeline, after failing to locate her on his first attempt.
Jillian, without concern for her own safety, quickly entered the building but was turned away by the intense flames and vomited from inhaling smoke. She then re-entered the building and low-crawled to try to avoid the smoke and flames. She located Madeline, who was lying unconscious on the floor near the kitchen, grabbed her arm and pulled her from the burning home onto the front patio area as the flames intensified. With Andre’s assistance, she then moved Madeline Bouchard away from the house.
“There is no doubt that Andre would have continued his efforts and perished trying to rescue Madeline,” Rep. Todd Smola of the 1st Hampden District wrote in his nomination. “Jillian Smith’s heroic actions saved the lives of Madeline and Andre Bouchard.”
Joining Rep. Smola in nominating Smith were Wales Chief of Police Thomas Ford and Fire Chief John Croke, and Massachusetts State Sen. Ryan Fattman of Webster.
“This is such an honor. It was scary…but I’m grateful that our neighbors are alive and well,” Smith said after receiving the award in the Massachusetts Statehouse Chambers. “I would hope others would do the same for those in need – just as Madeline Amy Sweeney did. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.”
Known as “Amy,” Ms. Sweeney was an American Airlines flight attendant for 14 years. She lived in Acton, Massachusetts with her husband and their two small children. On September 11, 2001, she was killed aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first aircraft hijacked by terrorists and flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. In the flight’s final minutes, Sweeney contacted the airline’s ground services crew to convey critical information about the hijackers and their actions on the plane that morning. It is for her heroism and all victims of September 11, 2001, that this award was created.
The Madeline Amy Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery Selection Committee is chaired by Lt. Governor Driscoll.
ABOUT THE MASSACHUSETTS 9/11 FUND
The Massachusetts 9/11 Fund, a 501c3 nonprofit organization established in December 2001, has a two-fold mission: to provide assistance to families impacted by the attacks, and to educate the public about the events and the impact on those families and all communities across Massachusetts. Anniversary Commemoration events, the Garden of Remembrance in the Boston Public Garden, and educator resources are all supported by the Fund to ensure the events of September 11, 2001, and those lost on that day, are not forgotten.