23962: (pub) Chamberlain: Heroism Awards (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (AP) -- The State Department presented awards on
Monday to three Diplomatic Security officers for heroism in Haiti during a
political upheaval last February.
   Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage presented the three with the
department's Heroism Award at a State Department ceremony.
   Spokesman Richard Boucher gave the following account of the actions of
the three:
   Special agent Christopher R. Belmonti of Gurnee, Ill., rescued a woman
who had been attacked by a group of rebels. He risked his life to free the
injured, bound woman from unknown assailants, taking her to receive medical
attention.
   Special agent Raymond Kyliavas of Huntsville, Ala., confronted an armed
mob in the act of carjacking and preparing to kill a defenseless victim
with a machete at a makeshift roadblock.
   Kyliavas was the first to approach the mob, leveling his rifle at the
group and yelling to get their attention. Once he got their attention, the
mob members fled the scene, and the victim was released.
   Special Agent Alston A. Richardson of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands,
risked his life to provide tactical updates of a gunfight between third
parties that was mistaken for an attack on Haiti's newly installed
president, Boniface Alexandre.
   Richardson's actions allowed his team members to avoid having to engage
an unknown enemy and face a potentially deadly escape through sustained
hostile fire.