RICHMOND, Va. –
In the final months of 2021, Capt. John C. Hemby repeatedly found himself providing life-saving aid to Virginia citizens. Over the course of eight weeks, Hemby, who serves as a company commander in the Virginia National Guard’s Recruiting and Retention Battalion, helped save two lives.
Hemby’s life-saving streak started in November. While waiting on his curbside lunch order in Chesterfield, Hemby heard a commotion.
“I was waiting on my order and looked over to my right to see that a woman was screaming, ‘help, help, help my child,’” he said. “We made eye contact and I immediately got out of my car and ran over to her.”
Hemby looked at the toddler and noticed her eyes were rolling in the back of her head. Quickly, Hemby assessed the child with the head-tilt/chin-lift and checked her mouth for an obstruction.
“I turned her around and started doing the Heimlich over my knee a couple of times until the food came out,” he said.
Hemby, who formerly served as a 68W Combat Medic Specialist, said placing a child over the knee is the best technique for assisting smaller kids who may be choking.
“You don’t want to go behind a child and perform the Heimlich like you would a normal adult because you could end up injuring them even more,” he said. “I just really focused on the little girl’s welfare and making sure she was able to breathe.”
After rendering aid to the child, Hemby stayed with the family until emergency personnel arrived on the scene.
A few weeks later, as Hemby was headed home from work, he noticed a vehicle on the side of the interstate with debris around it. Initially, he thought maybe the vehicle had experienced a tire blow out.
“As soon as I got closer, I saw that the vehicle was smoking and the driver was still inside,” he said. “The entire left side of the vehicle was wrecked; I immediately pulled over to help.”
When he approached the vehicle, Hemby saw the driver was dazed and a huge gash over his right eyebrow that was bleeding profusely. Unable to get the driver’s attention or open the car door, Hemby pulled out his multitool and use the glass penetrator to break the driver’s window. With the window broken, Hemby was able to get the car door open. He quickly performed a medical evaluation on the man, being careful to check for any neck trauma, and then pulled the man a safe distance away from the smoking car.
As Hemby dragged the man to safety, another passing motorist stopped and ran over to assist. Hemby ran to his vehicle, grabbed his first aid kit, and started administering aid. By this point, the injured driver was becoming more cognizant and Hemby kept him talking as he applied a pressure dressing to the man’s head wound as the other motorist called 911.
“The man was starting to feel cold, he had lost a good amount of blood,” Hemby said. “So, I tried to keep him warm and conscious until the ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital.”
As a friend pointed out, over two months, Hemby proved to be the right guy, in the right place, at the right time. He spent 12 years of his National Guard career in the medical field and said the training he received over those years helped prepare him to react quickly and appropriately in times of crisis.
“Take what you learn seriously, because wherever you are, there may be somebody that needs your help,” he said. “And God forbid you fall short that day; you will always look at that moment and say, ‘I should've been paying more attention, if only I took the extra 30 seconds, things may have been different.’”
Hemby said he plans on recertifying his EMT license, just in case his heroic streak continues.
“It’s kind of like the hallmark of the National Guard,” Hemby said. “We’re always citizen/Soldiers, looking out for our fellow Americans.”